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THE  '85  ADDRESS 

TOGETHER  WITH  SOME 

NEWSPAPER  AND    MAGAZINE    ARTICLES 

DISCUSSING 

THE  AMHERST  IDEA 


v» 


THE  '85  ADDRESS 

TOGETHER  WITH  SOME 

NEWSPAPER  AND  MAGAZINE  ARTICLES 

DISCUSSING 

THE  AMHERST  IDEA 


»    » » 


>  >       J 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


Address  of  Class  of  '85 3 

A  Noteworthy  Project  in  Higher  Education      ...    27 

By  Theodore  Roosevelt,  the  Outlook,  February  i8,  191 1. 

The  Opportunity  of  the  Small  College 32 

New  York    Evening  Post,    February    25,    191 1,    copied    in   the 
Nation,  March  2,  191 1. 

An  Intensive  College -36 

"The   New  York    Times,    May    7,    191 1,    copied    in    Springfield 
Republican,  May  10,  191 1. 

The  Regeneration  of  the  Small  College 38 

By  Harry  A.  Gushing,  New  York  Independent,  April  13,  191 1, 

A  New  Alumni  Movement 43 

Yale  Alumni  Weekly,  January  13,  191 1. 

The  Amherst  Proposals 45 

Brown  Alumni  Monthly,  ]sinxL&ry,  191 1. 

Favor  Small  Colleges 47 

The  Journal,  Wilmington,  Delaware,  December  3,  1910, 

The  Suggestions  of  '85 48 

The  Hartford  Courant,  February  20,  1911. 

The  Amherst  Plan -50 

Indianapolis  News,  January  21,  191 1.  ' 

An  Educational  Opportunity 57 

Springfield  Republican,  February  21,  191 1. 


259960 


PAGE 


Amherst's  Opportunity 60 

By  Benjamin  Baker,  Boston  Evening  Transcript^  December  31,  1910. 

The  Small  College 70 

San  Francisco  Chronicle,  April  9,  191 1. 

The  Future  of  the  Smaller  Colleges 73 

New  York  Sun,  February  19,  191 1. 

Amherst  a  Classical  College 74 

New  York  World,  February  12,  191 1. 

The  Amherst  Idea 75 

SilvcE,  February,  191 1. 

The  Classical  Weekly yy 

Editorial  article  by  Gonzalez  Lodge,  February  18,  191 1. 

A  New  Plan  for  Amherst 79 

Editorial  article,  Harper's  Weekly,  May  20,   191 1. 

The  New  Opportunity  of  the  Small  College    .     .     .    8o 

Harper's  Magazine,  June,  191 1. 


ADDRESS 

TO   THE 

TRUSTEES  OF  AMHERST  COLLEGE 

BY  THE 

CLASS  OF  1885 


The  Class  of  1885,  at  its  Twenty-fifth  Reunion  in 
Amherst  last  June,  impressed  by  the  progress  of  the 
College,  and  profoundly  convinced  of  the  value  of 
those  ideals  which  Amherst  has  ever  set  before  its 
students,  appointed  a  committee  to  present  to  the 
Trustees  the  question  whether,  at  a  time  when  educa- 
tion is  so  largely  assuming  a  technical  character,  and 
when  in  the  universities  the  work  of  teaching  is  to  so 
considerable  an  extent  performed  without  relations  of 
personal  contact  and  influence  between  teacher  and 
student,  it  is  not  at  once  the  opportunity  and  the  duty 
of  Amherst  College  to  take  a  distinctive  public  posi- 
tion as  a  representative  of  that  individual  training  and 
general  culture  which  once  was  the  purpose  of  all 
American  colleges.  We  believe  that  the  College 
should  take  this  position,  as  a  duty  owing  to  its  stu- 
dents, as  an  opportunity  for  a  great  public  service,  and 
in  its  own  interest  as  a  matter  of  self-preservation. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  Amherst  had  a  definite  and 
necessary  position  in  the  educational  scheme.  The 
courses  offered  to  its  students  were  not  different  in 
character  from  those  of  other  institutions  of  higher 
learning,  while  even  in  numbers  colleges  like  Yale  and 

3 


Princeton  were  not  beyond  comparison  with  Amherst. 
Columbia,  Cornell,  and  the  host  of  Western  institu- 
tions had  no  such  position  as  they  occupy  at  present. 

Within  recent  years  the  character  of  education  has 
so  changed  that  the  relative  position  of  different  insti- 
tutions, and  the  value  of  each  in  the  new  scheme  of 
education,  have  undergone  a  reappraisal.  The  great 
State  universities,  now  so  important,  take  their  stu- 
dents as  they  pass  from  the  high  schools,  offering  a 
technical  training  as  a  preparation  for  some  profes- 
sional or  commercial  career,  and  so  great  is  their  sup- 
port in  men  and  money  that  one  who  has  thoroughly 
studied  the  situation  recently  expressed  the  judgment 
that  "the  scepter  has  passed  from  the  private  school 
and  is  threatened  in  the  privately  endowed  college." 

Hence  have  come  the  enormous  demands  which 
Eastern  universities  without  State  support  have  made 
upon  friends  and  alumni.  New  technical  schools  and 
professional  and  postgraduate  courses  have  been 
needed,  and  for  these  purposes  endowments  have  been 
given  in  tens  of  millions,  so  that  Yale,  Harvard, 
Columbia,  and  many  other  institutions  are  able  to 
perform  the  work  which  State  universities  perform, 
taking  students  from  high  schools,  and  graduating 
them  equipped  to  pursue  a  technical  occupation. 

This  scheme  leaves  no  place  for  such  a  college  as 
Amherst.  The  high  school  fits  for  the  university,  and 
the  university  for  the  selected  calling.  Amherst,  on 
the  other  hand,  demands  a  preparation  not  within  the 
tendencies  of  the  high  school,  and  gives  a  course  of 
training  which  does  not  fit  for,  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
postpones,  preparation  for  a  calling. 

What,  then,  is  to  be  the  future  of  Amherst?  It  is 
without  the  means  necessary  to  enable  it  to  take  such 

4 


a  place  as  that  now  filled  by  those  institutions  which 
were  so  long  its  competitors.  Amherst  cannot  com- 
pete with  the  great  universities  in  their  extended  fields, 
and  so  long,  therefore,  as  we  seem  to  occupy  no  sepa- 
rate and  distinctive  field,  we  must  expect  to  see  the 
numbers,  reputation,  prestige,  and  wealth  of  other 
institutions  grow  while  Amherst  becomes  relatively 
of  less  and  less  importance.  This  is  the  prospect 
which  we  most  unwillingly  are  compelled  to  face. 
Few  there  are  indeed  who  nowadays  go  to  a  small  col- 
lege because  convinced  that  the  training  is  superior  to 
the  university  courses  elsewhere  offered.  Under  these 
conditions  to  raise  our  standard  seems  impossible; 
must  we  therefore  be  content  to  abandon  our  claim  to 
an  honorable  place  in  the  first  rank  of  American  insti- 
tutions? Is  there  no  distinctive  field  which  Amherst 
may  occupy,  no  demand  for  an  improvement  in  the 
quality  of  instruction  which  Amherst  may  supply? 

We  believe  that  there  is  such  a  field ;  that  there  are 
public  services  which  Amherst  may  render ;  that  there 
are  already  signs  of  reaction  from  present  conditions, 
and  that  no  institution  can  better  lead  and  give  form 
to  this  reaction  than  Amherst  College. 

The  popular  appraisal  of  education  is  commercial, — 
measuring  the  value  of  a  training  by  the  income  it  re- 
turns,—and  if  every  man  stand  for  himself  alone, 
this  appraisal  may  be  right.  It  is  in  the  relation  of  the 
individual  to  the  community,  however,  that  this  view 
of  educational  training  first  breaks  down.  Amherst 
has  never  taught  that  every  man  stands  for  himself 
alone,  nor  that  the  value  of  education  is  in  its  pur- 
chasable gratifications.  There  is  a  training  which 
should  be  undergone  for  the  sake  of  learning  and  for 
the  benefit  of  the  State. 


"There  are  in  this  country,"  said  Professor 
Nelson  of  Williams  College,  "no  two  wants  more 
pressing  than  a  literature  of  the  first  rank  and 
statesmen  of  the  first  rank.  The  two  go  together. 
Your  great  statesmen  are  bred  on  literature 
and  the  historic  achievements  of  mankind.  .  .  . 
Those  alone  have  the  right  to  deal  with  the  des- 
tinies of  humanity  who  have  learned  the  laws  by 
which  humanity  has  come  to  its  present  heritage." 

No  literature,  said  De  Tocqueville,  ought  to  be 
more  studied  in  democratic  ages  than  that  of  the  an- 
cients. This,  classical  training,  modified  from  time 
to  time  by  demands  of  modern  scholarship,  has  always 
been  the  Amherst  course,  and  the  Class  of  1885  urge 
that  the  College  can  and  should  make  its  work  in  this 
field  of  distinctive  value  and  public  importance;  that 
this  can  be  done  by  raising  the  standard  of  work 
among  faculty  and  students— by  getting  together  at 
Amherst  the  best  teachers  in  the  country  in  our  chosen 
field  of  work  and  the  most  serious  and  able  young  men 
to  profit  by  this  course  of  teaching.  These  three 
things  are  the  College— the  course  of  instruction,  the 
men  who  give  the  course,  and  the  students  who 
receive  it. 

THE  VALUE  OF  CLASSICAL  EDUCATION 

Amherst  has  stood  for  a  liberal  or  classical  education, 
—the  old-fashioned  course,— and  for  many  years 
there  was  in  this  respect  no  difference  between 
Amherst  and  other  institutions  of  higher  education  in 
this  country.  The  value  to  the  public  of  this  training 
in  making  statesmen  and  leaders  of  public  thought  is 

6 


even  now  unquestioned.    It  is  a  training  in  civics,  in 
the  history  of  government,  in  the  development  and 
significance  of  institutions,  in  the  meaning  of  civiliza- 
tion,—in  brief,  a  training  for  public  leadership,  not  a  ^ 
personal  equipment  for  a  trade. 

"The  American  college,''  Dr.  Woodrow  Wilson 
said,  "has  played  a  unique  part  in  American 
life.  ...  It  formed  men  who  brought  to  their 
tasks  an  incomparable  morale,  a  capacity  that 
seemed  more  than  individual,  a  power  touched 
with  large  ideals.  The  college  has  been  the  seat 
of  ideals.  The  liberal  training  which  it  sought  to 
impart  took  no  thought  of  any  particular  profes- 
sion or  business,  but  was  meant  to  reflect  in  its 
few  and  simple  disciplines  the  image  of  life  and 
thought.  Men  were  bred  by  it  to  no  skill  or  craft 
or  calling ;  the  discipline  to  which  they  were  sub- 
jected had  a  more  general  object.  It  was  meant 
to  prepare  them  for  the  whole  of  life  rather  than 
some  particular  part  of  it.  The  ideals  which  lay 
at  its  heart  were  the  general  ideals  of  conduct, 
of  right  living  and  right  thinking,  which  made 
them  aware  of  a  world  moralized  by  principle, 
steadied  and  cleared  of  many  an  evil  thing  by 
true  and  catholic  reflection  and  just  feeling,  a 
world  not  of  interests  but  of  ideas.  Such  impres- 
sions, such  challenges  to  a  man's  spirit,  such  inti- 
mations of  privilege  and  duty,  are  not  to  be  found 
in  the  work  of  professional  and  technical  schpols. 
They  cannot  be." 

Very  few  colleges  follow  this  line  now,— unfortu- 
nately few,  for  the  old  ideas  were  not  all  wrong,— but 

7 


among  the  few  that  can  find  no  substitute  in  technical 
training  for  the  ideals  of  the  past  Amherst  has  an 
honorable  place.  This  is  the  opportunity  of  the  Col- 
lege, to  make  it  its  work  to  give  that  sound  training 
which  fits  men  to  become  public  leaders.  Institutions 
and  government  have  a  history,  and  the  best  states- 
manship is  that  which  meets  the  future  with  lessons 
derived  from  a  profound  understanding  of  what  has 
gone  before  us.  Technical  education,  which,  so  far  as 
government  is  concerned,  for  the  most  part  teaches 
devices  but  not  principles,  which  seems  to  assert  that 
successful  business  fits  for  successful  statesmanship, 
proceeds  upon  the  assumption  that  retrospect  is  not 
wise  and  that  in  any  difficulty  we  should  consider  not 
how  we  got  there  but  how  we  can  get  out,  as  if,  said 
Edmund  Burke,  we  should  "consult  our  invention  and 
reject  our  experience,"  Here,  indeed,  is  to  be  found 
one  of  the  causes  of  the  increasing  excitability  of 
American  politics.  Invention  is  the  parent  of  Utopias, 
socialism,  radicalism  of  all  kinds.  Experience  is  the 
parent  of  improvement,  progress,  conservatism. 

It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  for  the  Committee  to  say 
that  in  any  teaching  of  the  experience  of  the  race  the 
sciences  have  a  necessary  place.  None  would  advo- 
cate adoption  of  the  unchanged  classical  course  of 
fifty  years  ago.  All  would  agree  that  some  knowledge 
of  science  is  part  of  a  liberal  education,  and  should  be 
taught  at  Amherst— at  least  so  far  as  to  enable  her 
graduates  to  enter  the  best  professional  schools.  Not- 
withstanding all  this,  however,  the  day  of  the  classics 
has  not  yet  gone  by.  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago  a  leader  in  the  attack  upon 
the  old  scheme  of  education,  himself  recently  said  that 
as  an  essential  part  of  a  college  course 

8 


"I  would  prescribe  one  of  the  classic  tongues, 
Greek  or  Latin,  as  a  compulsory  study  to  the  day 
of  graduation,  the  one  royal  road  to  a  knowledge 
of  all  that  is  finest  in  letters  and  in  art." 

Upon  the  specific  question  which  Mr.  Adams  pre- 
sents, or  even  upon  the  broad  question  what  at  the 
present  time  should  be  the  general  character  of  classi- 
cal training,  the  Committee  make  no  suggestions.  The 
point  which  it  is  now  sought  to  emphasize  is  that  there 
is  a  great  field  which  Amherst  may  occupy,  that  this" 
field  is  nothing  less  than  training  in  public  leadership 
and  broad  culture.  In  this  instruction,  if  Amherst  make 
its  position  publicly  distinctive  and  different  from  that 
occupied  by  the  great  universities,  she  need  fear  no 
competition. 

The  tendency  of  modern  institutions— if  we  disre- 
gard their  distractions— is  to  make  breadwinners,  to 
fit  men  to  earn  money.  State  universities  are  neces- 
sarily of  this  character,  and  the  influence  upon  all  in- 
stitutions which  compete  with  them  is  strong.  Size 
itself  almost  irresistibly  drives  this  way.  Back  of  this 
modern  movement  is  the  notion  recently  stated  by 
Professor  John  M.  Gillette,  an  apostle  of  vocational 
training,— his  very  language  marked  by  the  modern 
divorce  from  classical  scholarship,— that 

'The  assumption  of  State  education  is  that  its 
training  is  necessary  for  citizenship,  that  is,  to  be 
a  valid  member  of  society.  But  since  one  can  be 
such  only  as  he  is  able  to  function  in  society,  that 
is,  work  in  society,  according  to  its  fundamental 
nature,  and  since  society  is  essentially  specialized 
and  vocational  in  constitution,  it  follows  that  to 

9 


make  citizens  in  the  best  sense  is  to  vocationalize 
them,  make  them  able  to  further  some  dominant 
social  interest/'  ^ 

With  Professor  Gillette's  conception  of  citizenship 
in  the  best  sense  we  need  not  quarrel.  None  doubt, 
and  at  the  present  time  none  need  emphasize  the  fact, 
that  the  world  needs,  and  must  have,  engineers,  chem- 
ists, electricians,  biologists;  that  technical  education 
and  trade  education  are  essential  to  the  work  of  the 
world;  that  the  vast  development  of  schools  and  uni- 
versities in  technical  lines  has  been  in  response  to 
urgent  public  necessity.  For  all  this  we  have  no  im- 
favorable  criticism.  The  point  to  be  emphasized  is 
that  different  institutions  may  well  turn  their  attention 
in  different  directions. 

The  proposition  for  which  Amherst  stands  is  that 
preparation  for  some  particular  part  of  life  does  not 
make  better  citizens  than,  in  President  Wilson's 
phrase,  preparation  for  the  whole  of  it ;  that  because  a 
man  can  "function  in  society"  as  a  craftsman  in  some 
trade  or  technical  work  he  is  not  thereby  made  a  better 
leader ;  that  we  have  already  too  much  of  that  states- 
manship marked  by  abiHty  ''to  further  some  dominant 
social  interest"  and  too  little  of  that  which  is  "aware 
of  a  world  moralized  by  principle,  steadied  and 
cleared  of  many  an  evil  thing  by  true  and  catholic 
reflection  and  just  feeling,  a  world  not  of  interests  but 
of  ideas."  Amherst  upholds  the  proposition  that  for 
statesmen,  leaders  of  public  thought,  for  literature, 
indeed  for  all  work  which  demands  culture  and 
breadth  of  view,  nothing  can  take  the  place  of  the 
classical  education;  that  the  duty  of  institutions  of 

1  "Vocational  Education,"  p.  73. 
10 


higher  education  is  not  wholly  performed  when  the 
youth  of  the  country  are  passed  from  the  high  schools 
to  the  universities  to  be  "vocationalized,"  but  that 
there  is  a  most  important  work  to  be  performed  by  an 
institution  which  stands  outside  this  straight  line  to 
pecuniary  reward ;  that  there  is  room  for  at  least  one 
great  classical  college,  and  we  believe  for  many  such. 
This  is  the  training  which  Amherst  has  given,  and  if 
now  the  College  were  publicly  and  definitely  to  stand 
forward  as  an  exponent  of  classical  learning  in  such 
modified  course  as  modern  scholarship  may  approve, 
we  believe  that,  with  its  history,  its  deserved  reputa- 
tion, and  its  present  position,  it  can  take  the  place  of 
leadership  in  this  work.  This  once  done,  the  College 
will  no  longer  appeal  for  support  solely  to  its  friends, 
but  would  have  reason  to  expect  the  efficient  support 
of  all  friends  of  classical  education— that  is,  of  the 
most  conservative,  thoughtful,  and  scholarly  persons. 
Among  such  persons  the  desire  for  sound  classical 
training  is  frequently  expressed.  It  was  but  recently 
that  Professor  Trent  of  Columbia  said : 

"Perhaps  in  time  certain  colleges  will  be  able 
to  emphasize  to  a  greater  degree  the  tried  clas- 
sical discipline  and  to  cease  to  compete  with  the 
technical  schools.  There  is  room  in  this  huge 
country  for  institutions  of  every  kind,  and  there 
are  still  people  who  would  gladly  give  their  chil- 
dren an  old-fashioned  education,  that  is,  a  dis- 
cipline that  has  been  tested,  under  teachers 
convinced  of  its  merits,  and  not  hampered  by  the 
necessity  of  defending  it  against  colleagues  who 
do  not  believe  in  it."  ^ 

1  New  York  Evening  Post,  Saturday,  October  8,  1910. 
II 


That  Amherst  should  abolish  its  present  course  lead- 
ing to  the  degree  of  B.S.  will  probably  not  be  seriously 
questioned.  This  was  once,  and  perhaps  not  long 
since,  a  valuable  course,  but  at  the  present  time,  in 
view  of  the  courses  of  instruction  given  at  such  schools 
as  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  Shef- 
field Scientific  School,  Cornell,  and  many  others,  it 
seems  to  the  Committee  that  young  men  who  desire 
scientific  instruction  make  a  mistake  to  come  to  Am- 
herst. That  the  degree  should  represent  something 
less  than  a  thorough  scientific  course  of  some  char- 
acter, or  be  used  to  permit  graduation  of  those  who, 
for  one  reason  or  another,  do  not  fulfil  the  require- 
ments of  the  arts  degree,  probably  few  would  justify. 
Williams  College  refuses  to  grant  this  degree,  and  we 
believe  that  Amherst  should  do  the  same.  It  is  to  be 
supposed  that  this  would  reduce  the  number  of  stu- 
dents very  considerably,  but  the  Committee  urge  that 
the  change  is  one  which  is  due  to  the  College  itself  as 
well  as  to  its  students. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  classical  field  we  believe  be- 
longs to  Amherst.  This  is  the  work  in  which  the 
College  may  be  made  a  leader.  Of  course  such  a  posi- 
tion cannot  be  taken  at  once.  Time  is  necessary,  and 
it  is  necessary  that  in  time  the  College  so  regulate  its 
afifairs  that  it  shall  be  enabled  to  give  the  training  in 
its  chosen  field  better  than  any  other  institution.  The 
method  by  which  all  this  may  be  accomplished  the 
Committee  believes  is  involved  in  changes  which 
should  be  inaugurated  as  parts  of  a  single  well- 
matured  policy. 

First:  Our  faculty  must  be  composed  of  the  best 
teachers  in  the  country  for  our  chosen  course. 

Second :  The  body  of  students  and  the  purpose  and 

12 


life  of  the  College  must  be  directed  toward  excellence 
in  scholarship. 


THE  COMPENSATION  OF  THE  FACULTY 

It  is  the  belief  of  the  Class  of  1885  that  the  profession 
of  teaching  is  of  vital  public  importance  and  dignity, 
and  that  the  compensation  offered  to  teachers  should 
be  such  as  to  draw  into  the  profession  men  of  the 
highest  talents  and  effectiveness.  That  this  is  not  so 
is  common  knowledge.  It  is  well  known,  as  the  New 
York  Times  states,*  that 

"The  best  brains  of  the  country  are  going  into 
business  because  in  business  the  scale  [of  com- 
pensation] is  pitched  higher." 

We  have  in  Amherst,  as  there  are  elsewhere,  men 
who  dignify  the  service  of  learning.  There  is  no  small 
consolation  in  the  fact  that  there  are  such  men  and  in 
the  knowledge  that,  although  the  profession  of  teach- 
ing is  not  now  drawing  into  its  ranks  its  due  propor- 
tion of  talent,  nevertheless,  in  order  to  remedy  the 
existing  evil,  it  is  not  necessary  that  teaching  be  made 
a  conspicuously  lucrative  profession.  What  is  needed 
is,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  compensation  be  not  con- 
spicuously low.  Young  men  of  ability  must  not  be 
driven  to  other  work  by  the  knowledge  that  a  profes- 
sor's salary  is  insufficient  to  support  a  family  and  to 
enable  him  to  associate  with  equals  on  equal  terms. 
In  the  second  place,  it  is  necessary  that  the  position  of 
a  professor  in  a  prominent  college  be  made  to  compare 

1  September  20,  1910. 

13 


in  dignity  with  the  position  achieved  by  success  in 
other  professions  or  occupations. 

No  such  condition  now  exists.  The  present  fact  is, 
as  the  New  York  Times  recently  said/  that 

"Many  college  instructors  and  some  college 
professors  would  consider  themselves  lucky  if 
they  got  the  wages  of  a  union  bricklayer.  They 
cannot  marry  and  support  their  wives  properly. 
Unless  their  wives  have  money,  they  cannot  bring 
up  their  families.*' 

The  great  injustice  of  this  condition  and  its  serious 
consequences  to  the  national  life  need  no  demonstra- 
tion. The  evil  is  fundamental.  It  discloses  present 
social  standards— in  no  other  great  nation,  said  Pro- 
fessor Gillette,  do  educators  stand  so  low  in  public 
esteem^— and  holds  out  an  unencouraging  prospect  as 
to  the  intellectual  life  of  the  country  twenty-five  years 
from  now.  What  is  needed,  then,  for  this  funda- 
mental evil  is  fundamental  change.  An  increase  of  a 
few  hundred  dollars  a  year  in  the  salaries  of  teachers 
may  slightly  diminish  the  hardships  of  a  position 
which  is  too  often  humiliating,  but  it  does  nothing 
toward  righting  a  great  wrong.  What  is  needed  is 
not  a  slight  increase  but  a  radically  new  standard  of 
compensation.  We  believe  that  it  is  possible  for  Am- 
herst to  do  something  toward  remedying  this  national 
misfortune  and  injustice. 

The  College  needs  no  more  buildings  and  no  addi- 
tional land.  Its  primary  need  is  a  body  of  instructors 
of  acknowledged  excellence.    While  it  is  possible  for 

1  September  20,  1910. 

2  **  Vocational  Education,"  p.  37. 

14 


other  institutions  to  call  professors  from  Amherst,  we 
cannot  expect,  as  a  general  rule,  either  to  secure  or  to 
keep  the  best.  To  learn  the  facts  about  salaries  paid 
at  Amherst,  the  Committee  requested  information 
from  members  of  the  Faculty,  thirty-nine  of  whom 
made  reports,  with  the  following  results : 

14  of  these  members  of  the  Faculty  receive  $3000; 
4  receive  $2500;  i  receives  $2200;  11  receive  $2000; 
4  receive  $1600;  2  receive  $1400;  i  receives  $1300; 
2  receive  $1200. 

The  Dean  (one  of  the  14  to  receive  $3000)  receives 
$1000  additional  for  his  services  in  administration. 
The  cases  of  assistants  are  not  included  in  the  above 
list,  as  they  are  in  no  sense  permanent  members  of 
the  Faculty. 

Corresponding  to  each  of  the  above  classes,  the 
average  reported  expenditure  per  year  is  as  follows : 


Salary 

Rent 

Cost  of 
living 

Books, 

education  of 

children, 

travel 

Total 

Excess  of 
expenditure 
over  salary 

Average  of 
last  column 

)3000 

$596 

$2633 

$807 

$4036 

$1036 

$620 

2500 

533 

2000 

416 

2949 

449 

2200 

500 

I  100 

300 

1900 

—300 

2000 

355 

1474 

476 

2305 

305 

1600 

337 

1323 

638 

2298 

698 

1400 

333 

1335 

405 

2073 

673 

1300 

175 

500 

350 

1025 

-275 

1200 

290 

1025 

362 

1677 

477 

The  higher  salaries  are,  in  general,  paid  to  men  of 
long  service,  who,  in  the  natural  course  of  affairs,  are 
compelled  to  meet  higher  expenditures.     Professors 

1  The  regular  salary  of  this  teacher  is  $1600.     He  has  an  extra  allowance  of 
$600  this  year  for  special  work. 

IS 


are  more  and  more,  as  time  passes,  called  upon  to  per- 
form representative  duties  for  the  college ;  their  chil- 
dren are  growing,  who  must  be  educated,  clothed,  and 
fed;  standards  of  living  are  entailed  which  are  not 
necessary  in  the  earlier  period  of  the  teacher's  career. 
Higher  salaries  correspond  not  to  a  greater  temptation 
to,  but  a  greater  need  for,  the  increased  expenditure 
which  appears  in  the  table.  With  this  in  mind,  the 
significant  fact  shown  is  that  at  no  period  during  a 
teacher's  connection  with  the  College  is  his  salary 
sufficient  for  his  support. 

If  the  $300  surplus  noted  against  the  $2200  salary 
be  considered  in  the  light  of  the  foot-note,  it  should 
enter  into  the  final  average  as  +300.  With  this  change, 
it  appears  that  the  average  outlay  of  the  Amherst 
teacher  exceeds  his  salary  by  $635.  The  statistics 
from  which  this  conclusion  is  established  are  based 
upon  reports  made  in  writing  by  the  individual  teach- 
ers upon  a  uniform  blank.  A  careful  reading  of  the 
remarks  accompanying  these  reports  shows  that  in 
many  cases  the  expenditure  is  kept  down  to  the  point 
indicated  only  by  an  exercise  of  economy  to  the  point 
of  hardship. 

Almost  without  exception,  the  members  of  the  Am- 
herst Faculty  can  live  with  a  fair  degree  of  comfort 
only  as  they  derive  income  from  sources  other  than 
salary. 

During  the  last  ten  years  the  increase  in  the  cost  of 
living  at  Amherst,  taking  the  average  of  the  estimates 
given  by  members  of  the  Faculty,  amounts  to  almost 
exactly  30%. 

An  independent  investigation  to  throw  light  upon 
this  increase  has  been  conducted  by  means  of  data 
obtained  from  the  books  of  Amherst  tradesmen.  Pres- 

16 


ent-day  prices  of  the  following  articles  were  compared 
with  prices  prevailing  in  the  later  nineties :  groceries, 
meats,  clothing,  coal,  services,  including  those  of  do- 
mestics, mechanics,  day-laborers,  etc.  The  results  of 
this  investigation  (which  the  Committee  has  on  file) 
appear  to  show  a  distinctly  greater  increase  than  that 
indicated  by  the  teachers'  reports. 

The  gentleman  who  made  the  inquiries  and  tabu- 
lated the  results  (a  very  painstaking  member  of  the 
Amherst  Faculty)  concluded  his  report  with  the  fol- 
lowing comments,  which  seem  to  the  Committee  to 
have  deep  significance : 

"When  I  have  indicated  the  increase  in  the  cost 
of  living  based  on  increase  in  prices  of  commodi- 
ties and  services,  the  story  is  by  no  means  com- 
pletely told.  The  standard  of  life  which  a  college 
professor  must  now  maintain  entails  an  increase 
in  expenditure,  as  compared  with  fifteen  years 
ago,  that  statistics  of  prices  do  not  show.  It  costs 
him  more  to  maintain  his  former  standard.  But 
the  change  of  standard  enforced  upon  him  by 
social  changes  and  the  sentiments  of  the  college 
community  forces  an  additional  expenditure.  Be- 
sides this,  the  progress  of  knowledge  calls  for  an 
increase  in  facilities  in  the  way  of  books,  travel, 
and  general  equipment  in  order  that  he  may  keep 
abreast  or  ahead  in  the  running  and  meet  the 
demands  of  service  to  his  institution.  Such 
changes  of  standard  in  living  and  equipment  can- 
not be  reduced  to  statistics,  but  they  are  known 
to  all  college  men. 

"So  much  on  the  increased  cost  of  living.  Let 
me  indicate  a  method  by  which  to  judge  of  the 

17 


adequacy  of  a  college  professor's  income.  Some 
investigation  has  led  me  to  the  conclusion  that  at 
Amherst  a  college  professor  spends  his  income 
approximately  as  follows  with  a  family  of  four: 
rent  17%,  fuel  6%,  lighting  2%,  food  35%, 
clothing  20%,  sundries  20%.  Assuming  that  he 
has  a  salary  of  $3000,  that  would  mean  $600  for 
sundries.  But  what  does  sundries  cover?  Such 
items  as  the  following:  laundry,  house-cleaning, 
kitchen  supplies,  repairs,  such  as  replacement  of 
furniture,  rugs,  bed-clothing,  etc.,  doctors'  bills, 
dentistry,  life  insurance,  subscriptions  that  he  is 
called  upon  to  make  and  wants  to  make,  support 
of  athletics  and  Y.  M.  C.  A.  benevolence,  pres- 
ents, books,  travel,  vacations,  and  the  education 
of  his  children. 

"There  are  college  professors  who  for  years 
buy  no  books  because  they  cannot  afford  it,  who 
for  the  same  reason  do  not  go  to  the  theater,  do 
not  subscribe  $5  to  the  musical  program,  never 
ride  in  a  parlor-car,  never  have  been  to  the  sea- 
shore or  to  the  mountains,  and  never  could  afford 
to  take  a  sabbatical  year  to  freshen  up  their  life 
and  their  work." 

In  explanation  of  the  last  remark  the  Committee 
add  that  during  a  sabbatical  year  but  half  salary  is  paid. 

Under  these  conditions  the  necessity  for  a  change  is 
evident.  Some  increase  of  salaries  is  inevitable.  It  is 
true  that  a  small  increase  will  accomplish  something 
if  it  enable  teachers  to  meet  necessary  expenses.  The 
great  public  necessity,  however,  is  that  some  step  be 
taken  toward  establishment  of  new  standards  of  com- 
pensation. 

18 


We  believe  that  there  is  but  one  way  in  which  to 
meet  this  situation.  If  the  College  were  to  adopt  the 
settled  policy  that  it  would  accept  no  gifts  which 
involve  increased  expense,  were  it  to  announce 
that  its  deliberate  purpose  is  and  shall  be  the  in- 
definite increase  of  teachers'  salaries,  and  that  to 
this  purpose  it  will  use  all  its  resources,  Amherst 
would  at  once  occupy  a  distinctive  position  among 
the  colleges  and  universities  of  the  country,  and 
would  do  something  more  than  her  share  to  restore 
the  dignity  of  a  great  profession.  Until  this  posi- 
tion is  taken  we  must  expect  to  be  small  workers  in  a 
great  field,  doing  what  others  do,  but  not  so  well. 
When  the  new  position  is  taken,  not  alone  in  the  inter- 
est of  the  College  but  for  learning  itself,  we  believe 
that  Amherst  will  represent  a  great  public  service 
which  deserves  support.  We  cannot  believe  that  in 
such  a  matter  this  support  would  be  wholly  lacking, 
and  we  hope  that  the  time  would  soon  come  when  Am- 
herst would  be  able  not  to  make  a  small  increase  only 
in  its  professional  salaries,  but  to  initiate  a  movement 
of  profound  influence  throughout  the  country. 


IMPROVEMENT  IN  THE  QUALITY 
OF  SCHOLARSHIP 

Amherst  is  not  a  large  college  and  has  never  been 
influenced  by  ambition  for  numbers  nor  participated 
in  the  race  for  size.  We  have  no  desire  to  use  our 
students  to  magnify  the  institution,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, wish  to  use  all  the  means  at  our  command  for 
the  greatest  advantage  of  every  student  who  comes  to 
us.  We  have  heard  alumni  of  large  colleges  debate 
the  future  of  the  small  college,  and  we  see  their  class- 

19 


rooms  so  crowded  that  instruction  is  almost  impossible 
and  a  lecture  of  an  hour  a  week  must  be  supplemented 
by  two  hours  a  week  in  which  the  class  in  small  groups 
meets  many  tutors,  hardly  their  seniors.  Hence  comes 
the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams  that 
Harvard,  "save  in  name  and  continuity,  should  cease 
to  exist,"  and  that  in  its  place  should  be  "a  group  of 
colleges,  all  independent,  ...  so  limited  in  size  that 
individuality  would  be  not  only  possible  but  a  neces- 
sary part  of  the  system.''  Hence  also  the  "quadrangle 
system"  so  called,  the  "preceptorial  system,"  and 
whatever  other  devices  may  be  used  to  make  a  large 
institution  do  the  personal  work  necessary  for  educa- 
tion—in short,  to  secure  for  large  colleges  the  in- 
herent advantages  of  the  small  ones. 

At  Amherst  there  is  no  such  problem.  Here  is  in- 
dividual training  capable  of  unlimited  development. 
With  a  renewed  faculty  we  may  start  this  work,  but 
to  take  a  position  of  leadership  as  a  great  classical 
institution  requires  development  among  the  students 
of  a  purpose  and  life  directed  toward  scholarly  excel- 
lence. Such  a  condition  does  not  now  exist.  Dr. 
Woodrow  Wilson  says  that 

"The  real  intellectual  life  of  a  body  of  under- 
graduates, if  there  be  any,  manifests  itself  not  in 
the  class-room,  but  in  what  they  do  and  talk  of 
and  set  before  themselves  as  their  favorite  objects 
between  classes  and  lectures.  You  will  see  the 
true  life  of  a  college  in  the  evenings,  at  the  din- 
ner-table or  beside  the  fire,  in  the  groups  that 
gather  and  the  men  that  go  off  eagerly  to  their 
work,  where  youths  get  together  and  let  them- 
selves  go   upon   their    favorite   themes— in   the 

20 


effect  their  studies  have  upon  them  when  no  com- 
pulsion of  any  kind  is  on  them.  The  effects  of 
learning  are  its  real  tests,  the  real  tests  alike  of  its 
validity  and  of  its  efficiency.  The  mind  can  be 
driven,  but  that  is  not  life.  Life  is  voluntary  or 
unconscious.  It  is  breathed  in  out  of  a  sustain- 
ing atmosphere.  It  is  shaped  by  environment.  It 
is  habitual,  continuous,  productive." 

There  are  schools  which  have  such  an  atmosphere, 
in  which  a  young  man  finds  an  environment  of  vivid 
intellectual  life ;  schools  which  draw  a  young  man  into 
a  current  where  yielding  is  easy  and  resistance  hard; 
where  he  discovers  a  severe  course  of  mental  training 
whose  vigor  comes  from  his  associations  and  the  de- 
mands of  his  fellows,  not  from  compulsion  of  the 
faculty.  There  is  probably  no  college  in  the  country 
in  which  such  a  condition  exists. 

"Life  at  college,"  Dr.  Wilson  goes  on  to  say, 
"is  one  thing,  the  work  of  the  college  another,  en- 
tirely separate  and  distinct.  The  life  is  the  field 
that  is  left  free  for  athletics  not  only,  but  also  for 
every  other  amusement  and  diversion.  Studies 
are  no  part  of  that  life,  and  there  is  no  competi- 
tion. Study  is  the  work  which  interrupts  the  life, 
introduces  an  embarrassing  and  inconsistent  ele- 
ment into  it.  The  faculty  has  no  part  in  the  life ; 
it  organizes  the  interruption,  the  interference." 

No  institution  of  which  this  is  true  arouses  the  be- 
lief which  Mr.  Gladstone  expressed  of  the  Oxford  of 
his  time— that  "she  is  providentially  designed  to  be  the 
fountain  of  blessings,  spiritual,  social,  and  intellec- 

21 


tual,  to  this  and  to  other  countries,  to  the  present  and 
future  times."  No  institution  of  which  this  is  true 
answers  the  just  expectation  of  those  parents  who  at 
personal  sacrifice,  often  great,  send  their  sons  to  col- 
lege that  they  may  be  better  prepared  for  that  modern 
world  of  which  it  is  said  that  "it  contains  an  uncom- 
mon challenge  to  effort,"  "and  all  the  achievements  to 
which  it  challenges  are  uncommonly  difficult." 

The  life  which  Dr.  Wilson  describes  is  no  prepara- 
tion for  this  modern  world  of  difficulty.  On  the  con- 
trary, as  Mr.  Birdseye  says,  the  college  too  often 
teaches  "a  mental  sloth,  carelessness,  and  inaccuracy 
which  are  quite  the  antithesis  of  good  education,  and 
of  the  business  training  that  the  non-college  competi- 
tor is  getting  under  some  stern  master  in  the  office,  the 
shop,  the  factory,  the  store,  or  other  business  training- 
school.  For  eight  hours  or  more  each  day,  the  latter 
is  part  of  a  carefully  organized  system,  a  machine  that 
detects  his  every  lapse  and  fits  him  for  higher  respon- 
sibility. These  disqualifying  habits  of  sloth,  careless- 
ness, and  inaccuracy,  acquired  or  intensified  at  college, 
are  often  so  bad  as  quite  to  negative  the  advantages  of 
a  college  course,  and  are  too  high  a  price  for  a  young 
man  to  pay  for  what  he  gets  out  of  his  four  years." 
Much  too  high  indeed,  for  this  is  but  teaching  failure. 

"Falso  queritur,"  said  Sallust,  "de  natura  sua 
genus  humanum,  quod  imbecille,  atque  aevi  brevis, 
sorte  potius  quam  virtute  regatur.  Nam  contra 
reputando,  neque  majus  aliud  neque  praestabilius 
invenias,  magisque  naturae  industriam  hominum 
quam  vim  aut  tempus  deesse." 

It  is  the  belief  of  the  Class  of  1885  that  the  colleges 
of  the  country  have  permitted  themselves  to  be  led 

22 


aside  from  their  true  function,  that  some  reaction  is 
inevitable,  and  that  no  college  can  better  lead  such  a 
movement  than  Amherst.  "It  is  curious,''  Mr.  Charles 
Francis  Adams  said,  "to  think  how  much  the  standard 
of  classic  requirements  might  be  raised  were  not  the 
better  scholars  weighted  down  by  the  presence  of  the 
worse."  It  is  inspiring  to  think  what  might  be  the 
effects  upon  college  standards  and  the  life  of  the  coun- 
try if  even  in  but  one  institution,  instead  of  this  drag 
of  poor  scholarship,  the  better  scholars  were  assisted 
by  a  living  interest  of  their  fellow-workers. 

Here  is  the  work  which  Amherst  can  do  better,  we 
think,  than  almost  any  other  college.  We  can  take 
advantage  of  our  position  as  a  small  college  and  place 
our  emphasis  upon  the  individual  training  and  high 
quality  of  scholarship  which  should  be  characteristic 
of  the  small  college.  When  Amherst  takes  this  place, 
it  seizes  leadership,  but  no  such  distinction  comes  with 
half-way  measures. 

The  College  cannot  devote  its  whole  strength  and  all 
its  energies  to  the  elevation  of  standards  and  improve- 
ment in  the  quality  of  its  work,  while  at  the  same  time 
it  endeavors  to  receive  increasing  numbers.  At  this 
point  choice  is  inevitable,  and  it  is  in  the  neglect  to 
meet  this  demand  of  existing  and  imperative  condi- 
tions by  a  deliberate  decision  that  most  of  the  small 
colleges  have  made  their  mistake.  This  is  an  error 
which  Amherst  can  avoid.  We  are  seekers  for  schol- 
arship, not  for  numbers,  and  our  position  can  be  made 
clear  and  publicly  distinctive  only  by  limitation  upon 
the  number  of  our  students. 

Such  a  limitation  being  established,  it  is  evident  that 
the  applicants  for  admission  to  the  College  must 
undergo  some  selective  process— preferably,  the  Com- 

23 


mittee  urge,  by  competitive  examination.  The  honor 
of  success  in  such  a  competition,  the  consciousness  of 
having  achieved  individual  recognition  in  the  field  of 
scholarship,  the  esprit  de  corps  which  must  result, 
would  create  at  Amherst  a  condition  such  as  now 
exists  in  no  American  college,  bringing  together  such 
a  body  of  students  and  teachers  intent  upon  serious 
work  and  the  best  scholarship  as  should,  in  time, 
make  a  deep  impression  upon  the  life  and  thought  of 
the  country.  It  is  possible  in  this  way  to  make  Am- 
herst a  place  where,  by  four  years  of  valuable  work, 
students  may  receive  a  real  preparation  for  the  life  of 
harder  work  which  awaits  them,  and  when  this  is 
done  Amherst  will  have  a  conspicuous  and  honorable 
place,  preeminent  in  its  way  among  all  American  col- 
leges. 

By  doing  these  things,  perhaps  not  all  at  once,  but 
nevertheless  as  soon  as  may  be,  Amherst  will  become 
known  all  over  the  country.  A  great  influence  will  be 
exerted  to  restore  the  dignity  of  the  teaching  profes- 
sion. More  seriousness  will  be  forced  into  college  life. 
It  will  become  an  honor  to  prepare  for  Amherst ;  am- 
bitious students  will  desire  the  prestige  which  comes 
from  entering,  and  an  Amherst  diploma  will  have  a 
distinctive  value. 

The  effect  upon  the  income  of  the  College  the  Com- 
mittee has  been  unable  to  study  thoroughly.  Over 
one  quarter  of  the  students  who  attended  Amherst  last 
year  were  candidates  for  the  scientific  degree.  The 
abolition  of  this  degree  would,  therefore,  make  a  very 
considerable  difference  in  the  numbers  attending  the 
College.  The  reduction  would  in  all  probability  be 
somewhat  less  than  the  figures  alone  would  indicate, 
for  some  men  preparing  for  the  scientific  degree  could 

24 


without  great  difficulty,  and  if  necessary  undoubtedly 
would,  qualify  for  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts. 

In  any  event,  nevertheless,  the  abolition  of  the  B.S. 
degree  seems  to  be  required.  Men  who  desire  a  thor- 
ough scientific  course  must  in  fairness  be  sent  else- 
where, and  from  this  would  come  our  greatest  loss  in 
attendance. 

From  the  numbers  remaining  there  would  at  first 
be  some  slight  reduction  resulting  from  competitive 
admission,  but  it  seems  that  this  would  very  soon  right 
itself.  There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  as  schools 
and  many  other  institutions  have  found  the  sure  cause 
of  growth  in  the  establishment  of  a  waiting  list,  so 
Amherst  might  find  that  with  a  limitation  upon  at- 
tendance, and  admission  by  competition,  the  number  as 
well  as  quality  of  applicants  would  improve.  It  would 
be  reasonable  to  hope  that  in  less  than  five  years  the 
College  would  again  have  an  attendance  equal  to  the 
present,  or  as  near  thereto  as  the  limit  which  may  be 
established  would  permit.  Such  deficiency  of  income 
as  might  exist  in  the  meantime,  amounting  perhaps  to 
fifteen  or  twenty  thousand  dollars  a  year,  could,  the 
Committee  believe,  be  covered  by  five-year  pledges 
from  alumni  who  would  be  glad  to  see  the  College 
take  such  a  stand  as  has  been  outlined. 

We  therefore  urge  upon  the  Trustees : 

( 1 )  That  the  instruction  given  at  Amherst  College 
be  a  modified  classical  course  as  the  meaning  of  that 
term  has  been  described ; 

(2)  That  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  be 
abolished ; 

(3)  That  the  College  adopt  the  deliberate  policy 
to  devote  all  its  means  to  the  indefinite  increase  of 
teachers'  salaries ; 

25 


(4)  That  the  number  of  students  attending  the  Col- 
lege be  limited ; 

(5)  That  entrance  be  permitted  only  by  competitive 
examination. 

E.  Parmalee  Prentice,  ChairmaUj 
Ellsworth  G.  Lancaster, 
William  G.  Thayer, 

Committee  of  the  Class  of  1885. 


35  Wall  Street,  New  York, 
November,  19 10. 


26 


A  NOTEWORTHY  PROJECT  IN  HIGHER 
EDUCATION 

The  Outlook,  February  i8,  19  ii 

A  real  democracy  must  see  that  the  chance  for  an  elementary- 
education  is  open  to  every  man  and  woman.  This  is  the  first 
essential.  But  it  is  also  essential  that  there  should  be  the 
amplest  opportunity  for  every  kind  of  higher  education.  The 
education  of  the  mass,  while  the  most  important  problem  in 
democratic  education,  is  in  no  way  or  shape  by  and  of  itself 
sufficient.  Democracy  comes  short  of  what  it  should  be  just 
to  the  extent  that  it  fails  to  provide  for  the  exceptional  indi- 
vidual the  highest  kind  of  exceptional  training;  for  democracy 
as  a  permanent  world  force  must  mean  not  only  the  raising  of 
the  general  level  but  also  the  raising  of  the  standards  of  excel- 
lence to  which  only  exceptional  individuals  can  attain.  The  table- 
land must  be  raised,  but  the  high  peaks  must  not  be  leveled 
down;  on  the  contrary,  they  too  must  be  raised.  Highly  im- 
portant though  it  is  that  the  masons  and  bricklayers  should  be 
excellent,  it  is  nevertheless  a  grave  mistake  to  suppose  that  any 
excellence  in  the  bricklayers  will  enable  us  to  dispense  with 
architects. 

In  this  country  we  have  met  better  than  in  other  countries 
the  demand  for  general  education,  and  there  is  now  on  foot 
a  widespread  and  most  useful  and  important  agitation  to  better 
this  type  of  general  education  by  making  it  more  practical,  by 
making  it  more  a  training  of  the  average  boy  and  girl  for  what 
that  average  boy  or  girl  must  do  in  after  life.  The  higher  tech- 
nical schools  carry  out  the  same  purpose  on  a  more  advanced 
scale.  Law  schools,  medical  schools,  agricultural  institutes, 
engineering  schools,  and  all  similar  schools  for  technical  train- 
ing are  being  improved  and  are  increasing  in  numbers.  The 
average  State  university  takes  its  students  as  soon  as  they  leave 
the  high  schools  and  gives  them  a  technical  training  as  a  prepa- 
ration for  some  professional  or  commercial  career,  and  it  does 

27 


this  on  so  large  a  scale  and  so  successfully  that  the  small, 
privately  endowed  college  of  the  old  type  cannot  in  this  field 
compete  successfully  with  its  great  State-aided  rival.  The 
large  private  universities,  especially  in  the  East,  which  have 
no  State  support,  have  been  forced  to  meet  this  rivalry,  and 
have  been  enabled  to  do  so  only  by  the  extraordinary  gifts 
which  they  have  received  from  friends  and  alumni.  Through 
these  endowments  new  technical  schools  and  professional  and 
post-graduate  courses  have  been  established  in  profusion,  and 
it  is  this  fact  that  enables  Yale,  Harvard,  Princeton,  Columbia, 
and  certain  other  similar  private  institutions  to  perform  the 
work  which  the  State  universities  also  perform,  by  taking  stu- 
dents from  high  schools  and  graduating  them  equipped  to 
pursue  a  technical  occupation. 

It  is  to  meet  the  state  of  affairs  thus  created  that  Messrs. 
E.  Parmalee  Prentice,  Ellsworth  G.  Lancaster,  and  William  G. 
Thayer,  of  the  Class  of  1885  ^^  Amherst,  have  as  a  committee 
prepared  a  plan  which  they  have  submitted  to  the  Trustees  of 
that  College.  Their  report  is  one  of  the  most  noteworthy 
of  recent  educational  documents.  In  their  opinion,  Amherst 
at  present  has  no  place  such  as  that  which  it  filled  fifty  or  even 
twenty-five  years  ago,  when  education  was  not  of  so  technical 
a  character,  and  when  a  college  man  was  more  representative 
of  individual  training  and  general  culture  than  at  present.  As 
things  are  now,  the  high  school  fits  for  the  university,  and  the 
university  for  the  selected  calling.  Amherst,  on  the  other 
hand,  demands  a  preparation  not  within  the  tendencies  of  the 
high  school,  and  gives  a  course  of  training  which  does  not 
specially  fit  a  man  for  any  particular  calling.  Moreover,  Am- 
herst has  not  the  means  which  will  enable  it  much  longer  to 
compete  on  their  own  terms  against  the  State  universities  and 
huge  privately  endowed  universities.  Either  Amherst  must  be 
content  to  occupy  an  entirely  secondary  position  in  the  educa- 
tional field,  or  else  it  ought  to  occupy  a  no  less  entirely  separate 
and  distinctive  portion  of  that  field. 

The  three  men  who  have  signed  the  address  then  proceed 
to  give  the  reasons  why  they  believe  that  here  is  a  distinctive 
field  of  the  highest  value  which  Amherst  both  can  and  ought  to 
occupy.  With  equal  boldness  and  wisdom,  they  advocate 
Amherst's  frankly  taking  the  position  that  it  does  not  intend 

28 


to  have  anything  to  do  with  that  tjrpe  of  education — necessarily, 
much  the  most  popular  type— the  appraisal  of  which  is  purely 
commercial,  the  value  of  the  training  being  measured  by  the 
income  it  returns.  They  insist  that,  in  addition  to  this  more 
ordinary  and  usually  more  necessary  form  of  training,  there  is 
another  which  should  be  undergone  simply  for  the  sake  of 
learning  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  State;  the  kind  of  training 
which  will  help  in  giving  to  the  State  the  incalculable  benefits 
of  a  literature  of  the  first  rank  and  statesmanship  of  the  first 
rank.  For  this  purpose  they  believe  that  Amherst,  so  far  from 
diminishing  the  attention  given  to  classical  training,  should 
greatly  increase  it,  modifying  it  from  time  to  time,  of  course,  to 
meet  the  demands  of  modern  scholarship;  and  that  for  this 
purpose  Amherst's  aim  should  be  to  get  the  best  teachers  of  the 
country  in  its  own  chosen  field  of  work,  and  the  ablest  and  most 
serious  of  the  young  men  who  desire  to  profit  by  such  a  course 
of  teaching.  They  propose  that  Amherst  shall  frankly  abandon 
the  purely  scientific  part  of  collegiate  work  and  stand  for  a 
liberal  classical  education,  an  education  along  the  old  lines,  but 
better  than  could  be  obtained  by  the  old  methods ;  an  education 
which  will  make  Amherst  of  high  value  to  the  public  by  train- 
ing statesmen  and  leaders  of  public  thought  in  civics,  in  the 
history  of  government,  in  the  development  and  significance  of 
institutions,  in  the  meaning  of  civilization.  This  education  is, 
in  Amherst,  to  be  the  substitute  for  the  effort  personally  to 
equip  a  man  for  a  trade. 

The  Committee  is  careful  to  explain  that  it  does  not  advocate 
the  elimination  of  the  sciences  nor  advocate  the  unchanged 
classical  course  of  fifty  years  ago.  A  knowledge  of  science  is 
part  of  a  liberal  education ;  but  the  science  is  to  be  taught  so  as 
to  turn  out,  not  an  engineer,  a  chemist,  an  electrician,  a  biolo- 
gist, but  a  man  of  broad  general  scientific  as  well  as  of  broad 
general  classical  training.  The  Committee  also  expressly  dis- 
claims any  kind  of  criticism  upon  what  is  done  by  the  average 
big  university  of  to-day,  and  especially  by  the  average  State 
university.  On  the  contrary,  it  explicitly  recognizes  the  fact 
that  technical  education  and  trade  education  are  essential  to 
the  work  of  the  world,  and  that  the  vast  development  of  the 
schools  and  universities  in  technical  lines  has  been  a  public  and 
urgent  necessity.    But  it  insists,  and  quite  rightly,  that  this  does 

29 


not  meet  all  the  demands  of  the  world,  and  that  different  insti- 
tutions can  with  profit  to  the  public  turn  their  attention  in 
different  directions.  Its  theory  is  that  Amherst  should  stand 
for  a  cultural  education,  for  one  which  will  give  breadth  of 
view,  which  will  fit  a  man  not  so  much  to  be  a  leader  in  any  one 
special  calling  as  to  be  a  leader  of  public  thought;  that  the 
graduate  of  Amherst  shall  not  be  specially  fitted  for  one  voca- 
tion, but  that  his  training  shall  have  been  such  as  to  stand  out- 
side the  straight  line  to  pecuniary  reward.  There  is  room  in 
our  country  for  institutions  of  every  kind,  and  the  need  for 
highly  efficient  technical  schools  does  not  imply  that  there  is 
any  less  need  than  formerly  for  the  highest  and  best  type  of 
classical  education. 

Accordingly  the  Committee  states  that,  in  its  judgment,  Am- 
herst should  now  completely  cease  the  effort  to  compete  in  tech- 
nical education  with  other  institutions,  and  devote  itself  to  the 
classical  field  of  education — to  what  were  once  called  the 
"humanities" — and  that  in  this  field  it  should  endeavor  to  take 
a  position  as  a  leader.  To  accomplish  this  end,  it  advocates, 
first,  that  the  Faculty  should  be  composed  of  the  best  teachers 
in  the  country  for  their  chosen  courses,  and,  second,  that  the 
body  of  students  and  the  purpose  and  life  of  the  College  should 
be  directed  toward  excellence  in  scholarship.  The  most  funda- 
mentally important  part  of  the  proposition  is  the  proposal  to 
stop  all  effort  to  increase  the  material  equipment  of  the  College, 
and,  instead,  to  endeavor  to  increase  the  infinitely  more  impor- 
tant intellectual  equipment  by  very  largely  raising  the  salaries 
of  the  instructors.  Not  only  is  the  Committee  absolutely  right  in 
this  proposition  as  regards  Amherst,  but  what  it  says  applies  in 
only  a  less  degree  just  as  much  to  other  institutions  of  learning. 
Altogether  too  much  money  has  been  put  into  bricks  and  mor- 
tar in  our  colleges  compared  to  the  amount  that  has  been  put 
into  the  salaries  of  the  men  who  are  to  give  the  instruction.  A 
really  good  university  should  have  among  its  professors  not 
only  good  teachers,  but  men  of  creative  and  productive  scholar- 
ship. There  are  many  such  now.  But  there  ought  to  be  many 
more.  It  is  not  necessary  that  teaching  be  made  a  conspicu- 
ously lucrative  profession,  but  it  is  necessary  that  the  compen- 
sation be  not  conspicuously  low.  A  young  man  of  ability  with 
high  ideals  ought  not  to  make  money-making  his  first  pre- 

30 


occupation.  But  he  certainly  and  emphatically  ought  to  insist 
upon  an  adequate  salary,  one  sufficient  to  support  his  family 
and  to  enable  him  to  associate  with  his  equals  on  equal  terms. 
A  successful  professor  in  a  prominent  college  should  occupy 
a  position  that  will  compare  well  in  dignity  with  the  position 
achieved  by  success  in  other  occupations.  The  very  low  salaries 
of  our  college  instructors  and  professors  represent  a  funda- 
mental national  evil.  There  should  be  a  fundamental  change, 
and,  as  the  Committee  says,  in  order  to  bring  about  this  fun- 
damental change  what  is  needed  is  not  a  slight  increase  but  a 
radically  new  standard  of  compensation.  If  Amherst  would 
take  the  lead  and  in  striking  fashion  inaugurate  this  new  stand- 
ard, that  mere  fact  would  at  once  give  the  College  a  command- 
ing position  of  a  unique  kind. 

In  conclusion,  the  Committee  urges,  to  carry  out  its  policy: 

( 1 )  That  the  instruction  given  at  Amherst  College  be  a 
modified  classical  course, 

(2)  That  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  be  abol- 
ished. 

(3)  That  the  College  adopt  the  deliberate  policy  of  de- 
voting all  its  means  to  the  indefinite  increase  of  teachers' 
salaries. 

(4)  That  the  number  of  students  attending  the  College 
be  limited. 

(5)  That  entrance  be  permitted  only  by  competitive 
examination. 

I  am  by  no  means  sure  that  this  fifth  provision  is  wise ;  and, 
in  my  judgment,  the  "classical  course"  should  include  also  a 
wide  sweep  of  general  history  and  literature.  But  the  proposi- 
tions, taken  together,  represent  a  proposal  which,  though  radi- 
cal and  startling  in  its  novelty  and  in  its  utter  divergence  from 
the  ordinary  type  of  educational  proposal,  nevertheless  if  put 
into  effect,  will  mean  far-reaching  benefit  to  our  national  life. 
If  Amherst  College  is  willing  and  able  substantially  to  adopt 
the  suggestion  of  the  Committee,  a  great  good  will  have  been 
accomplished;  and  in  any  event  the  Committee  is  to  be  con- 
gratulated for  having  so  clearly  set  forth  the  principle  which 
it  is  more  essential  for  America  than  for  any  other  nation 
effectually  to  realize.  Theodore  Roosevelt. 

31 


THE  OPPORTUNITY  OF  THE  SMALL  COLLEGE 

New  York  Evening  Post,   editorial  article,  February  25,  1911, 
copied  in  The  Nation,  March  2,  191 1 

We  have  increased  our  machinery  of  education  enormously  and 
have  thrown  the  old  engines  into  the  junk  heap,  yet  somehow 
we  cannot  get  away  from  an  uneasy  feeling  that  the  product 
has  in  some  respects  deteriorated.  The  continual  complaint 
that  athletics  and  social  functions  have  usurped  the  place  of 
study  in  our  colleges  is  only  one  expression  of  a  pretty  wide 
dissatisfaction.  President  Lowell  made  this  the  key-note  of  his 
inaugural  address,  and  declared  that  the  one  thing  necessary 
was  to  reawaken  the  imagination  of  the  students  and  to  arouse 
their  ambition  by  some  sharpening  of  competition  for  honors 
in  scholarship.  Many  causes  have  contributed  to  this  con- 
dition of  benumbed  intellects;  perhaps  the  most  obvious  is 
the  simple  fact  that  students  no  longer  have  any  real  community 
of  intellectual  interests,  owing  to  the  variety  of  courses  fol- 
lowed. What  common  ground  of  conversation  can  there  be,  or 
what  basis  of  stirring  emulation,  between  the  student,  for 
example,  who  is  spending  his  afternoons  in  a  laboratory  in- 
vestigating the  pressures  of  steam,  and  one  who  is  giving 
laborious  days  to  a  comprehension  of  the  human  problems  that 
underlie  the  Greek  tragedy,  or  between  the  student  who  is  ab- 
sorbed in  the  delightful  research  into  Gothic  roots  and  one 
who  is  concerned  with  the  literature  of  an  age  that  used  the 
word  Gothic  as  a  synonym  for  barbarous? 

Here  is  a  difficulty  which,  for  the  large  university  at  least, 
may  seem  at  present  insurmountable.  The  university,  in  the 
very  nature  of  the  case,  may  feel  bound  to  foster  all  the  diverse 
activities  of  the  world  for  which  it  is  at  once  a  place  of  training 
and  of  progressive  experiment.  And  in  truth  the  lack  of 
community  among  the  students  of  our  universities  is  only  a 
reflection  of  what  has  come  to  be  the  state  of  society  at  large. 

32 


Compare  any  circle  of  men  who  meet  together  to-day  for  the 
discussion  of  intellectual  matters  with  a  similar  reunion  of 
one  or  two  centuries  ago.  It  used  to  be  a  common  rule  of 
such  gatherings  that  any  subject  might  be  the  center  of  con- 
versation except  politics.  On  the  contrary,  any  such  circle 
to-day,  which  does  not  exclude  men  of  affairs,  is  almost  sure 
to  drift  away  from  every  theme  except  politics  and  reform— 
only  there  can  all  minds  touch.  There  is  no  greater  error  than 
to  suppose  that  bodies  of  men  are  attracted  together  by  diver- 
sity of  interests. 

The  way  of  escape  from  this  deadening  dispersion  is  thus 
almost  blocked,  as  matters  now  stand,  for  the  large  university. 
But  with  the  small  college,  technically  so  called,  the  case  is 
different.  The  very  limitations  of  its  means  and  Faculty  pre- 
vent it  from  competing  with  the  large  university  as  a  general 
workshop,  so  to  speak,  of  all  the  intellectual  activities  of  the 
age.  If  it  develops  its  laboratories,  the  humanities  are  bound 
to  suffer;  and  if  its  money  and  choice  of  men  are  for  the 
humanities,  the  laboratories  are  sure  to  go  unfed.  And  even 
within  a  particular  study  it  cannot  look  for  completeness  from 
a  number  of  balancing  specialties,  but  must  cultivate  the  sub- 
ject itself  in  a  general  way. 

This  limitation  has  been  recognized  by  some  of  the  more 
firmly  established  Eastern  institutions.  A  few  years  ago  there 
was  a  good  deal  of  talk,  for  example,  about  definitely  limiting 
the  number  of  students  at  Williams,  but  we  note  that  this 
year's  freshman  class  is  considerably  above  200.  An  "Address 
to  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  College  by  the  Class  of  1885," 
recently  published,  goes  into  the  question  more  thoroughly 
and  with  more  decisive  purpose.  The  Committee  makes  five 
proposals : 

(i)  That  the  instruction  given  at  Amherst  College 
be  a  modified  classical  course  as  the  meaning  of  that  term 
has  been  described; 

(2)  That  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  be  abol- 
ished ; 

(3)  That  the  College  adopt  the  deliberate  policy  to 
devote  all  its  means  to  the  indefinite  increase  of  teachers' 
salaries ; 

33 


(4)  That  the  number  of  students  attending  the  college 
be  limited; 

(5)  That   entrance   be  permitted   only  by  competitive 
examination. 

The  real  difficulty  is  likely  to  lie  in  the  matter  of  the  first 
two  articles,  which  define  the  quality  of  the  excellence  to  be 
aimed  at.  To  abolish  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science,  and 
make  the  classics  the  heart  of  the  curriculum— one  can  hear  the 
protests  that  are  likely  to  be  hurled  at  the  authorities.  Yet  it 
is  not  easy  to  see  how  the  small  college,  leaving  out  of  account 
the  technical  institutions  which  give  science  degrees  and  have 
their  own  exclusions,  is  to  derive  any  advantage  from  the  limi- 
tations save  in  just  this  direction.  In  salary  it  can  scarcely 
hope  to  go  beyond  the  richer  universities,  if  it  can  equal  them. 
It  can,  however,  attain  that  unity  of  scholarly  interests— with, 
of  course,  proper  variety— the  absence  of  which  is  having  so 
benumbing  an  effect  on  the  larger  and  more  heterogeneous 
institutions.  At  a  dinner  where  were  present  several  members 
of  the  Faculty  of  a  certain  small  college  which  apes  notoriously 
the  university  system,  the  talk  turned  into  kindly  remembrance 
of  the  absent  brothers;  and  said  the  learned  investigator  in 
biology  to  his  neighbor  of  the  physical  laboratory:  "Do  you 
know  that  Smith  came  to  me  to-day  and  wanted  to  know  about 
something  in  biology;  what  has  a  philosopher  to  do  with 
biology?"  It  is  just  that  spirit  of  dispersion  that  might  be 
eliminated  by  giving  to  education,  where  it  can  be  given,  a 
sure  order  and  hierarchy.  And,  whatever  may  be  said  here 
and  there  against  the  "dead  languages,"  however  they  have 
been  abandoned  for  easier  and  seemingly  more  direct  paths 
to  success,  there  are  no  studies  other  than  Latin  and  Greek 
that  can  be  practically  proposed  as  the  center  of  such  a  system. 
Indeed,  the  Committee  whose  report  we  are  considering  makes 
a  strong  appeal  for  their  unique  value  in  individual  culture  and 
in  the  national  life.  And  there  are  other  indications  that  such 
views  in  regard  to  the  classics  are  becoming  commoner  to-day 
among  men  of  wide  knowledge  of  life  and  among  our  profes- 
sional educators.  It  is  not  unusual  to  hear  from  practical  men 
such  opinions  as  Mr.  Bryce  put  so  well  in  his  letter  to  the  Sym- 
posium on  the  Classics  held  at  Ann  Arbor  in  1909 : 

34 


"It  is  a  mistake  to  live  so  entirely  in  the  present  as  we 
are  apt  to  do  in  these  days,  for  the  power  of  broad  thinking 
suffers. 

*'A  mastery  of  the  literature  and  history  of  the  ancient 
world  makes  every  one  fitter  to  excel  than  he  would  have 
been  without  it,  for  it  widens  the  horizon,  it  sets  standards 
unlike  our  own,  it  sharpens  the  edge  of  critical  discrimina- 
tion, it  suggests  new  lines  of  constructive  thought." 

In  the  same  spirit  Mr.  James  Loeb,  formerly  of  Kuhn, 
Loeb  &  Co.,  could  say:  "That  a  classical  course  is  a  valuable 
training  for  business  life  has  always  semed  to  me  a  self-evident 
proposition." 

Latin  and  Greek  are  still  the  humanities,  and  the  first  small 
college  that  shall  be  brave  enough  to  bring  back  to  its  halls 
the  true  humanistic  spirit,  may  be  an  influence  in  education 
the  ends  of  which  no  one  can  foresee. 


35 


AN  INTENSIVE  COLLEGE 

The  New  York  Times,  editorial  article,  May  7,  191 1,  reprinted  in 
Springfield  Republican,  May  10,  19 11 

A  new  form  of  college  is  described  in  a  recent  number  of 
the  Independent  by  Prof.  Harry  A.  Gushing,  formerly  of  the 
Columbia  Law  School.  It  is  based  on  an  address  issued  by 
the  Class  of  1885  in  Amherst  College  through  a  committee 
consisting  of  E.  P.  Prentice,  Esq.,  of  this  city ;  President  Lan- 
caster of  Olivet  College;  and  Dr.  Thayer,  Head  Master  of  St. 
Mark's  School,  all  names  entitled  to  respect. 

We  shall  not  now  discuss  the  general  nature  of  the  college 
course  recommended,  save  to  remark  that  it  seeks  thorough 
culture  rather  than  preparation  for  any  special  vocation.  What 
interests  us  particularly  is  the  means  proposed  to  make  the 
College  potent  in  a  high  kind  of  utility  for  those  who  are  ad- 
mitted to  it.  For  this  purpose  it  is  proposed  that  the  number 
of  students  be  strictly  limited;  that  only  the  most  promising 
among  applicants  be  selected;  that  the  high  standard  set  at 
entrance  be  rigidly  maintained,  and  that  the  resources  of  the 
College  be  devoted,  not  to  buildings  and  grounds  and  "ex- 
pansion" generally,  but  to  securing  enough  pay  to  professors 
to  get  the  very  best  in  their  several  lines.  In  other  words,  the 
College  is  to  be  organized  to  give  the  best  culture  by  the  best 
teachers  to  young  men  best  adapted  to  take  it  and  most  eager 
and  efficient  in  pursuit  of  it. 

This,  we  believe,  is  in  the  right  line.  It  is  by  no  means  the 
model  for  all  colleges,  and  it  is  not  intended  to  fill  the  place 
of  the  universities  which  deserve  the  name.  Much  less  is  it 
intended  to  replace  professional  or  technical  schools,  or  the 
increasing  number  of  institutions  that  aim  to  fit  young  men 
for  callings  other  than  professional.  But  it  would  benefit  a 
certain  class,  numerous  when  we  take  our  whole  population 
into  account,  who  seek  through  hard  work  to  attain  a  really 
thorough  training  in  the  art  of  thinking  and  of  study,  which 

36 


is,  essentially,  education.  For  this  class  at  present  the  pro- 
vision in  the  United  States  is  pitifully  inadequate.  It  is  in  a 
way  less  than  it  was  fifty  years  ago,  when  college  students 
generally  were  confined  to  those  who  were  seeking  to 
enter  one  of  the  three  professions  then  recognized. 
For  these  general  culture  in  a  limited  course  was  consid- 
ered sufficient,  and  usually  proved  so.  But  the  saving 
condition  in  the  relatively  modest  institutions  before  the  Civil 
War  was  that  nearly  all  the  students  "went  through  college" 
at  substantial  cost  and  sacrifice  to  themselves  and  their  families, 
and  were  disposed  to  work  hard  to  make  the  most  of  what  was 
a  real  privilege. 

The  Amherst  Committee  seek  to  secure  this  same  spirit  and 
to  make  the  most  of  it.  They  would  sift  out  the  lazy,  dull,  the 
incapable,  and  give  to  those  really  able  and  determined  to 
take  it  careful  and  thorough  training  in  such  general  culture 
as  can  be  had  in  four  years.  They  would  establish  a  working 
college  for  working  students,  and  for  such  an  institution  there 
is  a  definite  and  strong  demand. 


37 


THE  REGENERATION  OF  THE  SMALL  COLLEGE 

New  York  Independent,  April  13,  191 1 

The  old,  unsettled  problem  of  the  status  and  service  of  the 
small  college  has  never  received  such  keen  discussion  as  has 
followed  the  recent  address  of  the  Class  of  '85  to  the  Trustees 
of  Amherst  College.  The  solution  of  that  problem  thus  far 
either  has  been  made  unnecessary  or  has  been  avoided.  In 
some  instances  the  small  college  has  ceased  to  be  small; 
in  other  instances  it  has  ceased  to  be  a  college;  in  still 
other  instances  it  has  temporized  in  the  hope  of  out- 
growing one  characteristic  or  the  other  under  the  stimulus 
of  purely  business  management  or  of  academic  competition. 
This  indecision  has  been  met  squarely  by  the  proposals  of  this 
address;  and  if  these  can  be  adapted  to  past  traditions  and 
existing  conditions,  either  at  Amherst  or  elsewhere,  there 
may  be  one  small  college  unique  in  its  definite  and  ambitious 
purpose,  which  will  stand  for  a  higher  ideal  in  collegiate  schol- 
arship, which  will  not  represent  the  prevailing  spirit  of  inert 
opportunism  and  philosophic  compromise,  and  in  which  the 
Faculty  will  do  more  than  "organize  the  interruptions"  of 
college  life. 

The  address,  in  which  the  Class  has  "stepped  boldly  into  a 
relation  to  their  College  which  opens  up  an  entirely  new  field 
for  alumni  activity,"  has  already  aroused  abundant  comment 
and  has  been  regarded  as  a  summons  to  some  small  college  to 
realize  and  seize  upon  what  many  believe  to  be  a  real  oppor- 
tunity for  public  service.  Unconsciously  it  applies  the  test 
of  the  unsatisfied  world  to  the  satisfied  college. 

The  underlying  idea  is  that  the  small  college  should  provide 
a  broad  cultural  training  adapted  to  meet  the  present  call  for 
carefully  trained  graduates,  should  lead  in  a  rational  reaction 
against  the  prevailing  trend  to  vocationalism  and  "business" 
education,  and  should  illustrate  the  utility  of  a  reversion  to 
the  old  humanities,  using  them,  with  their  modern  develop- 

38 


ments,  as  the  basis  for  four  years  of  discipline.  The  college 
course  would  become  a  real  business  for  all  and  not  a  diversion 
for  many.  Having  once  adopted  an  ideal  and  a  standard  of 
training,  those  would  be  maintained,  and  to  their  maintenance 
all  else  would  be  subordinated.  As  no  responsible  newspaper, 
even  though  a  purely  commercial  enterprise,  should  allow 
its  editorial  page  to  be  influenced  by  its  business  department, 
so  no  college  should  permit  its  standards  to  be  lowered  or  its 
methods  to  be  relaxed  in  order  to  preserve  the  numerical 
strength  of  its  student  body. 

To  these  ends,  as  attainable  in  this  instance,  only  five  specific 
suggestions  are  made:  the  strengthening  of  a  modified  classi- 
cal course;  the  abolition  of  the  B.  S.  degree;  the  indefinite 
increase  of  the  salaries  of  professors;  the  limitation  of  the 
number  of  students;  and  the  admission  of  students  only 
through  a  competitive  examination  or  some  other  really  selec- 
tive process. 

The  proposal  of  anything  bordering  on  classicism  is  certain 
in  these  days  to  meet  much  hostile  criticism ;  and  the  use  of  the 
term  "classical"  will  in  some  quarters  be  reason  for  prejudice 
against  any  plan.  No  word  seems  more  available  as  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  course  in  the  small  New  England  college  of  fifty 
years  ago.  It  was  classical,  in  that  Greek  and  Latin  were 
predominant;  but  it  was  much  more.  Then  the  small  college 
was  stimulated  by  a  spirit  of  puritanic  idealism  and  devotion ; 
singleness  of  purpose  was  strengthened  by  the  possession  of 
an  unusual  opportunity;  vigor  and  thoroughness  in  all  work 
were  maintained  by  the  realization  that  college  then  meant 
privilege;  and  through  all  ran  the  conviction  that  the  college 
man  owed  some  especial  duty  to  the  public.  That  was  the 
controlling  spirit  of  the  classical  college;  and  a  return  to  that 
is  to  be  desired  quite  as  much  as  a  return  to  Latin  and  Greek. 
Indeed,  the  proposal  of  a  modified  classical  course  takes  its 
start  from  the  proposition  that  a  college  should  train  for  public 
usefulness  men  who  will  have  breadth  and  thoroughness,  the 
power  of  application  as  well  as  of  appreciation,  and  the  per- 
sistence which  usually  is  developed  only  in  the  work  of  the 
world.  If  the  spirit  of  the  small  college  could  be  the  spirit 
of  the  old  classical  days  modified  by  the  better  portion  only  of 
the  modern  college  spirit,  there  would  be  little  demand  for 

39 


any  change  of  curriculum.  For  such  a  revival  of  the  old  spirit 
and  old  ideals  no  more  favorable  place  and  no  more  congenial 
atmosphere  can  be  found  than  in  the  small  college  of  New- 
England. 

So  far  as  the  curriculum  is  concerned,  these  most  recent 
proposals  are  not  radical.  While  the  cultural  and  even  in- 
spirational value  of  the  classics  is  insisted  upon,  recognition 
is  also  given  to  the  importance  of  the  modern  languages.  The 
sciences,  too,  are  specifically  valued  as  important  factors  in  a 
well-rounded  course.  In  fact,  so  far  as  subject  matter  goes, 
the  modified  classical  course  is  substantially  the  present  course 
in  many  colleges,  but  for  the  fact  that  in  recent  years  some 
colleges  have  appeared  to  treat  the  classics  as  dying  languages, 
of  none  but  sentimental  value.  Against  that  tendency  to  decry 
the  utility  of  the  classics  now  appears  this  vigorous  revolt. 
If  there  is  to  be  anything  of  idealism  in  college  life,  it  can  only 
be  by  properly  subordinating  those  tendencies  which  aim  at 
developing  chiefly  an  earning  power.  The  attempt  is  to  bring 
about  a  reversion  to  old  ideals,  and  some  college,  equipped 
with  a  Faculty  suitable  for  such  work,  may  take  the  leadership 
in  reforming  American  college  life  and  in  freeing  college 
education  from  the  criticism  of  the  business  man  who  sees 
in  it  neither  sound  business  training  nor  broad  scholarship 
and  only  disqualification  for  success  in  business. 

The  second  proposal,  the  abolition  of  the  B.  S.  degree  by  a 
college  of  the  modified  classical  type,  calls  for  no  comment  or 
argument.  If  the  small  college  does  not,  as  few  do,  train  for 
a  scientific  calling,  the  courses  underlying  the  degree  can  be 
little  more  than  cultural  courses,  and  the  degree  will  be  a  mis- 
nomer. If  such  a  degree  really  differs  from  the  B.  A.  degree 
only  by  ignorance  of  Greek  (and  sometimes  Latin  also)  and, 
possibly,  by  slightly  greater  knowledge  of  the  sciences,  then  it 
really  means  nothing  distinctive.  This  would  still  more  clearly 
appear  to  be  the  case  wherever  a  candidate  for  the  B.  A.  degree 
is  permitted  to  take  even  more  courses  in  science  than  are  re- 
quired of  the  candidate  for  the  B.  S.  degree.  The  proposition 
is  unanswerable  that  a  degree  should  not  in  itself  be  a  deceptive 
figure  of  speech. 

The  third  proposal,  that  the  college  should  declare  for  a 
policy  of  indefinite  increase  in  the  salaries  of  professors,  will 

40 


commend  itself  to  many.  This  has  been  a  prevailing  and  futile 
dogma  since  colleges  began.  The  first  professors  looked  upon 
their  calling  as  akin  to  that  of  missionaries,  and  this  error 
has  burdened  all  their  successors.  The  early  types  were  not 
urged  to  go  into  teaching;  they  felt  called  to  the  work;  and, 
exercising  a  choice  of  a  well-filled  calling,  they  did  not  com- 
plain of  its  scant  recompense  for  devoted  service.  No  amount 
of  comment  has  been  able  to  alter  this  situation.  The  press 
to-day,  and  for  years,  has  been  full  of  generalities  on  the 
subject;  but  seldom  are  figures  offered.  When  it  appears  that 
in  a  well-endowed  college  the  average  man  of  the  entire  faculty 
pays  out  yearly  for  the  necessaries  of  living  a  few  hundred 
dollars  more  than  his  salary,  certainly  in  that  college  the  pro- 
fessors have  to  "magnify  their  calling"  at  their  own  expense 
and  sacrifice.  To  demonstrate  this  injustice  a  combined  bal- 
ance-sheet of  the  Faculty  is  conclusive.  To  provide  an  adequate 
remedy,  and  to  establish  quality  as  the  final  test  of  usefulness, 
a  college  must  be  content  to  have  the  bulk  of  its  funds  so 
obscurely  invested  as  to  show  a  return  only  in  the  classroom. 
This  requires  the  rare  power  to  resist  the  temptation  to  build 
and  expand.  The  Committee  who  prepared  the  address  in 
question  would  seem  to  go  further,  and  have  their  College 
decline  all  gifts  of  buildings  which  might  be  unaccompanied 
by  provision  to  meet  the  increased  maintenance  charges  or 
which  might  provide  facilities  for  more  than  a  fixed  maximum 
of  students.  To  adopt  this  policy  involves  an  excess  of  modesty 
in  finance  to  which  few  college  presidents  will  be  able  to  yield. 
They  might  cease  to  be  financial  solicitors  and  be  able  to  take 
this  ground  if  once  their  productive  endowments  were  ade- 
quate, their  working  equipment  sufficient,  and  the  size  of  their 
college  so  limited  as  to  quiet  the  ambition  for  mere  numbers. 
Such  a  degree  of  content  with  outward  conditions  will  never 
exist  as  long  as  there  is  the  stimulus  to  outgrow  a  proper  and 
normal  plant.  To  secure  such  content  there  must  be  adopted, 
as  is  now  proposed,  a  policy  of  intensive  college  development. 
The  two  remaining  propositions,  the  limitation  in  number 
of  the  student  body  and  admission  by  a  competitive  process, 
are  interdependent.  Granted  that  the  maximum  of  an  entering 
class  is  arbitrarily  fixed,  those  applying  (unless  mere  priority 
of  date  of  application  is  to  control)  must  necessarily  be  sifted, 

4r 


and  if  the  limitation  amounts  to  anything,  the  best  among  the 
applicants,  up  to  the  number  needed,  will  be  chosen.  Whether 
this  result  is  secured  by  competitive  examination,  or  by  the 
choice  of  those  whose  certificates  show  the  most  creditable 
preparation,  or  of  those  whose  preparatory  record  otherwise 
shows  the  greatest  capabilities,  the  fact  is  that  by  some  selec- 
tive process  the  best  only  among  the  applicants  will  be  received. 
Admission  will  then  mean  something  real,  and  the  limitation 
will  be  fully  justified  if  the  work  in  the  college  itself  can  be 
made  of  such  a  superior  type  that  membership  in  such  a  college 
will  mean  excellence,  and  its  degree  will  be  truly  distinctive. 
If  any  board  of  trustees  will  exercise  the  discrimination  and 
courage  properly  to  apply  such  tests  to  the  work  in  their  charge, 
and  to  establish  such  standards  and  keep  to  them,  they  will 
win  the  approval  of  many  doubting  parents  and  will  develop 
an  American  college  unlike  any  we  have  had  in  the  thorough- 
ness of  its  work,  the  influence  of  its  Faculty,  and  the  character 
of  its  graduates.  The  problem  seems  not  to  be  whether  any 
college  will  be  able  and  willing  patiently  to  attempt  this,  but 
what  college  it  will  be. 

Harry  A.  Gushing. 
New  York  City. 


42 


A  NEW  ALUMNI  MOVEMENT 

Vale  Alumni  Weekly,  January  13,  1911 

The  influence  of  the  alumni  of  the  Eastern  universities  on 
the  work  of  their  institutions  has,  within  the  last  ten  years  or 
more,  become  a  fact  of  striking  interest  and  significance.  We 
need  not  here  rehearse  the  application  of  this  generalization  to 
Yale.  Through  the  Alumni  Advisory  Board,  the  Alumni 
Fund,  the  Class  Secretaries'  Bureau,  the  various  Alumni  Asso- 
ciations, the  Associated  Western  Yale  Clubs,  and  the  Alumni 
Weekly,  Yale  graduates  have  of  late  been  coming  to  take  a 
more  and  more  interested  and  effective  part — as  far  as  their 
sphere  of  action  permits  them— in  Yale  affairs.  Amherst 
graduates  of  the  Class  of  1885  have  recently  stepped  boldly 
into  a  relation  to  their  College  which  opens  up  an  entirely  new 
field  for  alumni  activity.  A  memorial  from  that  Class  to  the 
Amherst  Trustees  last  November  is  a  new  thing  in  Eastern 
university  life.  It  will  be  highly  interesting  to  note  the  out- 
come. The  plan  proposed  is  a  notable  one.  It  calls  for  a  con- 
fining of  the  Amherst  curriculum  to  a  broad  classical  education ; 
for  the  elimination  of  professional  scientific  branches;  for  a 
higher  standard  of  undergraduate  scholarship ;  for  competitive 
examinations  for  entrance;  for  a  restriction  of  the  number  of 
students  to  a  personal  working  proportion  to  the  teachers ;  and 
for  a  very  considerable  increase  in  the  salaries  of  the  Faculty. 
With  the  exception  of  the  last-named  clause,  this  proposal  of 
the  Amherst  '85  graduates  reads  like  a  reconstruction  of  the 
old-fashioned  Eastern  college  education.  It  has  in  it  a  great 
deal  of  matter  for  solid  consideration.  It  is  a  far  cry  from  the 
efforts  seen  now  and  then  on  the  part  of  some  Eastern  institu- 
tions to  strike  out  into  the  field  of  competition  for  numbers. 
It  is  far  removed  from  the  readjustments  of  entrance  require- 
ments which  now  and  then  are  adopted  to  attract  the  students 
who  now  go  to  other  places.  It  is  a  distinct  movement  away 
from  the  kind  of  rivalry  for  popularity  that  one  sees  now  and 

43 


then  in  some  losing  institution,  and  which,  unfortunately, 
makes  of  intercollegiate  athletics  an  advertising  medium.  Just 
how  much  will  come  of  the  Amherst  memorial  remains  to  be 
seen,  but  it  may  be  said  at  this  stage  that  in  no  recent  mani- 
festation of  alumni  interest  in  a  college's  development  has  there 
been  so  vital  a  proposition  made,  nor  so  fundamental  a  policy 
offered.  A  brief  review  of  some  of  the  points  brought  out  by 
the  Amherst  '85  graduates  is  given  elsewhere  in  this  issue. 


44 


THE  AMHERST  PROPOSALS 

Brown  Aluntni Monthly,  January,  191 1 

Amherst's  twenty-five-year  Class  has  stirred  the  educational 
world  by  suggesting  certain  new  policies  for  its  College,  one 
being  that  the  curriculum  be  limited  to  a  "modified  classical 
course."  Another  proposal  is  the  following:  "That  entrance 
be  permitted  only  by  competitive  examination,"  the  avowed 
purpose  being  to  limit  the  number  of  students.  Another  in- 
teresting suggestion  is :  "That  the  College  adopt  the  deliberate 
policy  to  devote  all  its  means  to  the  indefinite  increase  of 
teachers'  salaries."  What  action,  if  any,  the  authorities  of 
Amherst  will  take  on  these  proposals  can  only  be  a  matter  of 
conjecture,  but  the  suggestions  are  obviously  applicable,  if  at 
all,  to  more  than  one  institution. 

The  expression,  "a  modified  classical  course,"  is  open  to 
various  interpretations;  but  if  it  means  an  academic  rather 
than  a  technical  or  trade  course,  there  can  hardly  be  any  ob- 
jection to  it  so  far  as  our  older  collegiate  foundations  are 
concerned.  It  may  be  of  immense  importance  that  our  country 
should  have  skilful  bricklayers  or  watchmakers,  and  an  institu- 
tion might  do  a  noble  service  by  providing  for  their  education, 
but  it  is  still  more  important  to  the  country  to  have  men  who 
are  trained  in  thought  and  knowledge.  It  is  to  this  latter 
service  that  our  colleges  were  devoted  by  their  founders,  and 
it  would  seem  to  be  their  business  to  promote  this  end,  rather 
than  any  other,  however  good ;  and  this  end  and  aim  we  under- 
stand to  be  the  one  championed  by  the  Amherst  Class  of  1885. 

Competitive  entrance  examinations  are  efficient  means  of 
reducing  the  number  of  students  in  a  college  if  that  result  is 
thought  desirable,  and  cases  may  arise  in  which  restriction 
becomes  the  most  natural  course  to  pursue.  It  is  clear  that  any 
educational  plant  can  suffice  for  only  a  certain  number  of 
students.  If  the  attendance  has  reached  this  limit,  there  is 
nothing  to  do  but  to  enlarge  the  college  in  all  directions  or  to 

45 


keep  the  numbers  down.  Eleven  years  ago  Brown  had  greatly 
exceeded  its  accommodations — how  much  can  best  be  judged 
by  the  enormous  extension  of  its  facilities  that  have  been  made 
since.  It  is  now  in  substantial  equilibrium  as  regards  numbers 
and  accommodations,  and  its  numbers  have  remained  the  same 
during  that  period.  But  suppose  we  had  an  immediate  pros- 
pect of  another  trebling  or  doubling,  would  our  corporation 
favor  undertaking  the  enormous  outlay  involved,  or  would  it 
set  the  limit  at  one  thousand  and  seek  some  device  to  keep  our 
numbers  within  it?  The  method  suggested  for  Amherst  is  the 
readiest  one,  but  a  juster  and  wiser  one,  in  our  opinion,  is  that 
employed  at  Park  College,  of  insisting  constantly  upon  a  high 
standard  of  work,  not  only  from  term  to  term,  but  from  week 
to  week.  The  standard  can  evidently  be  so  set  as  to  afford  any 
desired  degree  of  exclusion.  It  is  of  course  possible  that  the 
same  practice  may  be  suggested  in  the  interest  of  scholarship 
as  well  as  in  that  of  physical  accommodations. 

As  to  the  matter  of  professors'  salaries,  while  the  word 
"indefinite"  certainly  sets  no  limit,  however  high,  we  need  not 
consider  so  much  the  wording  as  the  principle,  which  seems  to 
be  altogether  businesslike,  that  if  you  expect  to  have  good 
work,  you  must  be  willing  to  pay  for  it.  Though  altruism 
enters  far  too  much  into  the  teachers'  side  of  the  bargain,  the 
ultimate  result  is  that  inadequate  salaries  mean  inadequate 
teaching.  This  is  the  most  wide-reaching  of  all  the  Amherst 
suggestions,  and  its  principle  is  one  that  all  governing  boards 
everywhere  are  too  apt  to  neglect. 

An  Amherst  Class  has  given  serious  counsel  to  its  Alma 
Mater.  Are  there  not  Brown  Classes  that  can  give  the  univer- 
sity the  result  of  their  high  thinking? 


46 


FAVOR  SMALL  COLLEGES 

The  Journal,  Wilmington,  Delaware,  editorial  article,  December  3,  1910 

Most  colleges  and  universities  smile  a  smile  of  satisfaction  as 
the  number  of  students  at  their  respective  institutions  increases. 
They  are  proud  of  the  large  list  of  undergraduates,  and  to 
many  the  success  of  an  institution  is  based  on  the  length  of 
the  roll-call.  During  the  last  decade  the  number  has  greatly 
increased  in  all  the  more  prominent  institutions  of  learning, 
and  the  increase  has  probably  been  much  greater  in  proportion 
than  the  growth  of  population. 

But  here  and  there  is  a  sign  of  a  reaction  against  the  tendency 
towards  extremely  large  colleges.  The  Class  of  1885  of  Am- 
herst, one  of  the  best  of  the  smaller  New  England  colleges,  has 
presented  a  memorial  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  in  favor  of 
restricting  the  instruction  given  at  the  College  to  a  modified 
classical  course,  limiting  the  number  of  students,  and  admitting 
these  -by  competitive  examination.  This  is  a  novel  suggestion, 
and  yet  it  is  likely  to  attract  serious  attention  on  the  part  of 
those  who  favor  the  smaller  colleges  and  who  still  stick  to  the 
classical  course.  If  Amherst  should  adopt  the  suggestion  of 
the  Class  of  1885,  it  would  hold  a  unique  place  among  the 
colleges,  but  no  doubt  there  would  always  be  a  waiting  list  of 
those  who  desired  to  attend. 


47 


THE  SUGGESTIONS  OF  '85 

The  Hartford  Courant,  editorial  article,  February  20,  1911 

The  Trustees  of  Amherst  College  are  considering — very 
thoughtfully,  we  may  be  sure— a  communication  from  a  Com- 
mittee of  the  Amherst  Class  of  1885.  The  members  of  the 
Committee  are  Mr.  E.  Parmalee  Prentice  of  the  New  York 
bar,  President  Ellsworth  G.  Lancaster  of  Olivet  College,  and 
Head-master  William  G.  Thayer  of  St.  Mark's  School,  South- 
boro,  Mass.  They  are  filial  sons  of  their  Alma  Mater,  troubled 
in  mind  about  her,  solicitous  for  her  future.  Their  com- 
munication is  of  an  extraordinary  character,  interest,  and  im- 
portance. They  represent  to  the  Trustees  that  Amherst— for 
all  the  increase  in  the  number  of  her  college  buildings  and  the 
size  of  her  college  classes — does  not  have  the  standing  and 
distinction  among  American  institutions  of  learning  she  had 
fifty  years  ago,  or  twenty-five  years  ago.  They  say  that  it  is 
idle  for  her  to  attempt  to  compete  with  the  endowed  universi- 
ties of  the  East  or  the  State-supported  universities  of  the  West 
in  the  work  they  are  doing.  She  has  not  their  funds  or  their 
facilities  for  it.  They  can  train  and  equip  engineers,  chemists, 
electricians,  etc.,  or  business  men  and  money-makers,  as  Am- 
herst cannot  do.  Either  she  must  accept  a  position  of  acknow- 
ledged and  permanent  inferiority,  or  she  must  make  for  herself 
a  place  and  mission  and  distinction  of  her  own. 

It  is  such  a  new  departure — which,  after  all,  is  only  a  return 
—that  these  members  and  spokesmen  of  the  Class  of  1885  urge 
upon  the  Trustees.  They  would  have  Amherst  College  defi- 
nitely renounce  all  thought  of  rivalry  with  the  universities. 
They  would  have  her  be  content  with  her  present  size  and 
housing,  limit  the  number  of  her  students,  and  receive  only 
such  as  are  able  to  pass  with  credit  a  searching  competitive 
examination  at  the  threshold.  They  would  have  her  abolish 
the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science,  requiring  all  her  under- 
graduates to  qualify  themselves  for  that  of  Bachelor  of  Arts. 

48 


They  would  have  her  become  once  more  a  college  of  the 
humanities,  giving  her  sons  a  sound  classical  education  (with 
as  much  of  science  in  it  as  a  college  graduate  of  the  twentieth 
century  ought  to  know),  and  sending  them  out  into  the  world 
to  be  scholars  and  teachers,  men  of  letters,  professional  men,  or 
statesmen,  according  to  their  bent.  And  as  one  of  the  first  steps 
in  this  return  the  Class  of  1885  would  have  Amherst  College 
cease  to  plan  new  buildings  and  for  the  present  use  every 
dollar  that  comes  her  way  in  increasing  the  salaries  of  her 
professors. 

Theodore  Roosevelt,  we  notice,  shakes  his  head  a  bit  dubi- 
ously in  the  Outlook  over  the  competitive  entrance  examination, 
and  suggests  (wisely)  that  the  classical  education  should  "in- 
clude a  wide  sweep  of  general  history  and  literature."  For  the 
rest,  he  heartily  approves.  "The  propositions,  taken  together, 
represent,"  he  says,  "a  proposal  which— though  radical  and 
startling  in  its  novelty  and  in  its  utter  divergence  from  the  ordi- 
nary type  of  educational  proposal — nevertheless,  if  put  into 
effect,  will  mean  far-reaching  benefit  to  our  national  life.  If 
Amherst  College  is  willing  and  able  substantially  to  adopt  the 
suggestion  of  the  Committee,  a  great  good  will  have  been 
accomplished." 

In  this  opinion  we  heartily  concur.  If  the  Trustees  accept 
the  suggestions  of  '85  and  act  upon  them,  it  won't  be  long 
before  Amherst's  A.  B.  will  take  on  a  meaning  and  value  not 
always  attaching  to  that  degree  at  the  American  universities 
which  Eliotized  themselves  in  haste  and  are  now — some  of 
them,  at  least — repenting  at  leisure.  There  are  things  much 
better  worth  while  and  more  to  be  desired  than  mere  bigness. 
Amherst  could  not  set  a  finer  example  to  her  sister  colleges  in 
New  England  and  the  younger  colleges  in  the  younger  States 
than  by  re-entering— contentedly,  proudly,  and  once  for  all 
— into  her  heritage  as  a  college  of  liberal  arts. 


49 


THE  AMHERST  PLAN 

Indianapolis  News,  January  21,  1911 

Progress 

Something  was  said  in  this  column  last  week  of  the  plan  pro- 
posed by  the  Amherst  Class  of  1885  looking  to  a  reconstruction 
of  the  college  course.  The  proposition  is  to  give  a  broadly 
classical  education,  to  eliminate  the  professional  scientific 
branches,  to  raise  the  standard  of  undergraduate  scholarship, 
to  hold  competitive  examinations  for  extrance,  to  restrict  the 
number  of  students,  and  to  increase  the  salaries  of  the  teachers. 
In  its  discussion  of  the  subject  the  Yale  Alumni  Weekly  says: 

This  proposal  reads  like  a  reconstruction  of  the  old- 
fashioned  Eastern  college  education.  It  has  in  it  a  great 
deal  of  matter  for  solid  consideration.  It  is  a  far  cry 
from  the  efforts  seen  now  and  then  on  the  part  of  some 
Eastern  institutions  to  strike  out  into  the  field  of  com- 
petition for  numbers.  It  is  far  removed  from  the  read- 
justments of  entrance  requirements  which  now  and  then 
are  adopted  to  attract  the  students  who  now  go  to  other 
places.  It  is  a  distinct  movement  away  from  the  kind  of 
rivalry  for  popularity  that  one  sees  now  and  then  in  some 
losing  institution,  and  which,  unfortunately,  makes  of  in- 
tercollegiate athletics  an  advertising  medium.  Just  how 
much  will  come  of  the  Amherst  memorial  remains  to  be 
seen,  but  it  may  be  said  at  this  stage  that  in  no  recent 
manifestation  of  alumni  interest  in  a  college's  development 
has  there  been  so  vital  a  proposition  made,  or  so  funda- 
mental a  policy  offered. 

If  the  policy  is  "vital"  and  "fundamental,"  it  does  indeed 
deserve  "solid  consideration."  There  are  two  or  three  very 
simple  truths  which  ought  to  be  kept  in  mind  by  any  one  who 

so 


discusses  this  question.  The  first  is  that  not  all  that  seems 
to  be  progress  is  progress.  Men  and  society  may  move,  but  it 
may  be  in  the  wrong  direction.  Or  they  may  be  carried  by  the 
pressure  of  forces  which  it  seems  at  the  time  impossible  to 
resist.  So  when  we  are  told  that  our  movement  from  the  older 
to  the  newer  ideals  in  education  marks  a  real  progress,  we  have 
a  right  to  demand  of  those  who  make  the  assertion  that  they 
prove  it.  In  truth,  the  burden  is  on  them.  All  change  is  by  no 
means  improvement,  as  we  have  often  seen  in  religion  and 
politics.  The  Amherst  men— and  many  agree  with  them — 
are  profoundly  convinced  that  the  changes  in  education  have 
been  very  decidedly  for  the  worse.  The  general  dissatisfaction 
with  present  conditions  still  further  supports  this  view.  Not 
for  years  has  there  been  so  much  unfavorable  comment  on 
education  as  there  is  at  the  present  time.  The  fact  that  things 
are  different  from  what  they  once  were  by  no  means  proves 
that  they  are  better. 

Lost  Ideals 

As  change  from  the  old  does  not  necessarily  indicate  progress, 
so  recurrence  to  the  old  does  not  indicate  a  failure  to  progress. 
Whether  reversion  to  type  is  or  is  not  a  bad  thing  depends 
wholly  on  what  the  type  is.  The  drunkard  makes  progress 
when  he  returns  to  the  old  and  clean  Hfe  which  he  had  left 
behind  him.  The  prodigal  in  the  gospel  first  "came  to  himself," 
and  then  went  back,  or  returned,  or  reverted  to  his  father  and 
the  old  home.  Repentance  always  involves  something  of  this 
return.  Most  of  us  would  give  much  if  we  could  once  again 
know  the  innocence  and  artlessness  of  our  earlier  years.  So 
in  fancy  we  journey  back,  and  at  every  step  of  the  journey  we 
feel  that  we  are  making  in  truth  a  royal  progress,  though  we 
may  be  sadly  conscious  all  the  while  that  we  shall  never  again 
wear  the  old  garland.  But  we  have  no  doubt  that  the  backward 
path  is  the  path  of  progress,  and  the  thing  that  makes  us  sad  is 
the  realization  that  we  are  unable  or  unwilling  to  tread  it. 
So  it  is  quite  clear  that  reversion  to  the  old  is  very  often  the 
truest  and  noblest  sort  of  progress.  This  is,  of  course,  recog- 
nized by  the  prophet  Jeremiah,  who  wrote  of  those  who  had 
caused  the  people  "to  stumble  in  their  ways  from  the  ancient 


paths,  to  walk  in  paths,  in  a  way  not  cast  up."  To  the  same 
great  man  and  great  teacher  we  owe  the  following  admonition : 

Stand  ye  in  the  ways,  and  see,  and  ask  for  the  old  paths, 
where  is  the  good  way,  and  walk  therein,  and  ye  shall  find 
rest  for  your  souls. 

The  old  paths  were  blazed  out  by  men  who  had  had  much  ex- 
perience with  life,  and  some  knowledge  of  human  nature.  They 
were  not  mistaken  about  everything,  are  not  false  guides.  A 
thing  is  not  good  because  it  is  old,  but  then  neither  is  a  thing 
good  because  it  is  new.  There  is,  however,  a  certain  presump- 
tion to  be  indulged  in  favor  of  the  old— of  what  has  been  tried 
and  tested.  That  is  a  truth  of  which  we,  in  our  passion  for 
change  and  innovation,  make  far  too  little.  Our  educational 
reformers  have  given  it  almost  no  weight,  their  theory  being 
that  whatever  is,  is  wrong.  Progress,  therefore,  does  not 
necessarily  mean  going  ahead;  it  may,  and  often  does,  mean 
going  back— back  to  old  and  forgotten  truths  and  principles. 

The  Past 

The  third  general  principle  which  it  is  desired  to  lay  down  is 
that  history  can  have  no  value  to  any  man  who  is  unwilling  to 
profit  by  its  teaching,  or  unable  to  catch  inspiration  from  the 
great  lives  that  were  lived  long  ago.  If  we  accept  the  theory 
that  truth  is  new-born  in  every  generation;  that  knowledge, 
which  can  come  only  from  patient  study  or  painful  experience, 
is  a  matter  of  special  revelation  to  a  chosen  few  who  call  them- 
selves reformers,  then,  indeed,  the  study  of  history  is  the  most 
futile  of  all  things.  But  to  such  may  be  commended  the  words 
in  an  address  recently  delivered : 

On  and  always  on,  to  be  sure,  the  Gleam  that  Merlin 
glimpsed  must  guide  the  footsteps  of  the  race;  but  it  is 
well  at  times  to  look  backward  to  the  brave  days  of  old; 
to  think  of  the  men  of  the  past  whose  services  made  this 
present  possible;  to  listen  to  the  elder  voices— how  they 
spoke  to  their  time ;  to  refresh  our  spirits  at  the  perennial 
fountains  of  their  wisdom  of  thought,  and  of  their  pa- 
triotic fervor  of  action. 

52 


But  why  all  this  unless  we  expect  to  be  refreshed,  stimulated, 
inspired  and  instructed?  It  was  St.  Paul  who  said  to  the 
Romans:  "Whatsoever  things  were  written  aforetime  were 
written  for  our  learning,  that  we  through  patience  and  comfort 
of  the  scriptures  might  have  hope."  And  again  he  said  to  the 
Corinthians:  "Now  all  these  things  happened  unto  them  for 
ensamples:  and  they  are  written  for  our  admonition;  upon 
whom  the  ends  of  the  world  are  come."  In  this  latter  case, 
to  be  sure,  the  experience  of  the  past  was  to  be  avoided.  But 
the  point  is  that  whether  for  instruction  as  to  what  we  should 
do  or  for  warning  against  what  we  should  not  do,  the  teaching 
of  the  past  is  of  the  highest  possible  value.  Cultured  men 
ought  to  stand  steadfastly  against  all  attempts  to  create  a 
schism  in  life,  against  the  efforts  to  discredit  the  experiences 
of  the  ages.  The  surest  sign  that  a  man  is  cultured  is  his 
ability  to  "see  life  steadily  and  see  it  whole,"  and  his  deep 
and  loyal  reverence  for  a  great  and  sacred  past.  There  are 
some  things  to  which  mere  age  gives  dignity  and  charm- 
wealth  and  learning,  for  instance.  There  was  life  on  this  planet 
before  we  were  born,  and  it  affects  and  influences  present  life 
more  profoundly  than  we,  in  our  satisfaction  with  our  own 
achievements,  always  realize.  Much  of  our  research  is  de- 
voted to  the  rediscovering  of  lost  and  forgotten  truth.  Truth 
is  not  always  an  affair  of  the  future. 


THE  OLD  EDUCATION 

Old  Voices 

So  the  men  of  Amherst  ask  us,  at  least  by  implication,  to  re- 
consider our  hastily  delivered  judgment  on  the  old  scheme  of 
education.  Did  we  condemn  it  too  hastily,  and  without  suffi- 
cient warrant?  Is  or  is  it  not  true  that  the  present  plan  was 
at  first  considered  to  be  merely  an  experiment?  If  so,  has  the 
experiment  proved  successful?  Probably  not  one  of  these 
questions  can  be  answered  without  some  qualification,  unless 
it  be  the  first.  It  does  seem  as  though  we  had  been  too  sure  of 
ourselves  when  we  overthrew  the  old  curriculum.  But  it  must 
be  recognized  that  it  was  the  product  of  two  forces,  one  of 
which  has,  to  a  certain  extent,  ceased  to  operate.    Largely  the 

53 


product  of  a  time  when  the  common  people  were  not  expected 
to  be  educated,  it  was  based  on  the  theory  that  learning  was  for 
the  few.  Greek  and  Latin  were  necessary  to  men  who  were  to 
have  anything  to  do  with  affairs.  So  the  old  system  grew  up, 
and  it  met  the  needs  of  the  time.  As  it  then  existed  it  does  not 
fit  the  needs  of  our  time,  and  the  very  men  who  four  or  five 
hundred  years  ago  followed  the  scheme  then  in  vogue,  would, 
were  they  alive  to-day,  be  the  first  to  admit  the  need  for  re- 
adaptation.  For  they  were  progressive  men,  many  of  them  the 
heretics  of  their  day.  But  this  is  far  from  being  the  whole 
story.  For  the  classical  course  was  not  simply  a  development 
— it  was  also  a  manufactured  thing.  Great  men  saw  that  it 
was  good,  and  that  under  it  an  admirable  training  could  be  had. 
This  was  true  even  in  this  country  so  late  as  thirty  years  ago. 
The  writer  of  the  article  in  the  Yale  paper  must  have  had  in 
his  mind  such  men  as  Porter,  Woolsey,  Thacher,  Packard, 
Dwight,  and  the  rest,  to  say  nothing  of  the  great  roll  of  alumni 
nurtured  on  the  old  wisdom.  These  men  were  not  mere  stupid 
reactionaries  and  Bourbons.  On  the  contrary,  they  profoundly 
believed  in  the  virtue  of  classical  and  literary  study.  Such 
authorities  are  not  to  be  despised.  They  all  had  power  and 
personality,  and  they  themselves,  and  scores  and  hundreds  of 
others  who  might  be  named,  were  the  products  of  the  old 
training.  The  idea  that  they  should  now  be  overruled  by  a  few 
technical  men  seeking  to  magnify  themselves  is  utterly  prepos- 
terous. To  them  the  "old  paths"  seemed  to  lead  to  the  highest 
and  most  fruitful  truth. 

Life's  Work 

But  there  is  other  testimony,  and  of  the  highest  value.  It  is  to 
be  found  in  the  lives  of  those  great  men  of  affairs  trained  in 
the  English  universities.  The  Balliol  type  is  perfectly  well 
known.  Some  of  the  greatest  men  who  have  served  England 
were  trained  at  that  famous  college,  and  they  have  been  men 
who  "did  things" — prime  ministers,  lawyers,  judges,  adminis- 
trators, viceroys,  and  governors.  The  present  prime  minister, 
Mr.  Asquith,  is  himself  a  Balliol  man.  Mr.  Balfour,  the  leader 
of  the  Opposition,  was  educated  at  Eton,  and  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge.  Lord  Rosebery  is  an  Oxford  man.  Gladstone, 
Salisbury,  Macaulay,  and  a  host  of  others  were  all  fed  on  the 

54 


old  studies.  In  our  own  country  such  men  as  President  Taft, 
President  Hadley  of  Yale,  former  President  Wilson  of  Prince- 
ton—now, happily,  Governor  of  New  Jersey — Governor  Bald- 
win of  Connecticut,  Chief  Justice  White,  and  many  others 
prominent  in  public  affairs,  were  all  educated  classically.  Judg- 
ing the  training  both  by  those  who  have  advocated  it  and  those 
who  have  been  bred  from  it,  surely  we  must  say  that  it  has 
much  in  its  favor.  The  question  is,  are  we  developing  such 
men  to-day?  Undoubtedly,  but  we  are  not  developing  them 
by  the  new  methods — and  that  is  the  point.  Our  product  is 
becoming  more  and  more  specialized.  We  are  training  men 
away  from  public  service  rather  than  toward  it.  The  man 
who  takes  a  four-year  course  in  science,  giving  only  such  at- 
tention as  he  is  grudgingly  permitted  to  give  to  the  older 
studies,  comes  out  of  college  unfit  for  anything  except  the 
particular  task  which  he  has  been  taught  to  perform.  As  Presi- 
dent Jordan  has  shown,  we  are  no  longer  getting  scientists, 
even,  with  a  true  love  for  science  as  science.  So  it  does  seem 
as  though  there  was  something  wrong.  If  that  is  so,  we  may 
well  study  the  past,  consider  how  it  was  that  the  classical  course 
got  itself  established,  and  dwell  somewhat  on  the  fact  that 
great  men  have  championed  it  and  been  produced  by  it — men 
with  a  sort  of  general  fitness,  with  an  ability  to  turn  their 
powers  in  several  directions,  men  with  an  adaptation,  not  per- 
haps to  any  special  task,  but  to  life  itself.  As  the  author  of  the 
address  already  quoted  from  well  says :  "The  business  of  life 
is  not  business,  but  life."  That  is  a  truth  which  the  reformers 
persistently  ignore. 

The  True  Ideal 

There  does  not  thus  seem  to  be  any  reason  why  the  friends  and 
lovers  of  liberal  studies  should  assume  an  apologetic  attitude, 
or  allow  themselves  to  be  put  on  the  defensive.  It  is  not 
necessary  for  them  to  prove  the  soundness  of  their  theories, 
for  they  have  proved  themselves,  supported  as  they  are  by  a 
great  body  of  the  highest  sort  of  testimony,  and  by  the  ex- 
perience of  the  race.  It  is  the  innovators  who  are  on  the  de- 
fensive— it  is  they  who  must  prove  that  their  experiment  has 
succeeded.  Right  reason,  too,  is  on  the  side  of  those  who,  like 
the  Amherst  men,  would  make  at  least  some  approach  to  the 

55 


old  curriculum.  The  mistake  of  those  who  would  continue 
things  as  they  are  is  that  they  look  at  the  matter  solely  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  supposed  good  of  the  college,  their 
idea  being  to  make  the  college  popular  and  to  attract  large 
numbers  of  students.  But  the  college  does  not  exist  for  itself, 
but  for  those  to  whom  it  ministers.  The  question  thus  is,  not 
what  is  good  for  the  institution,  but  what  is  good  for 
the  young  people  who  attend  it.  Obviously,  what  they 
need  most  of  all  is  a  general  training  in  the  fundamentals, 
discipline,  and  as  much  culture  as  they  can  get.  They 
must  be  brought  into  contact  with  the  great  minds  of  the  race, 
with  the  treasures  of  art  and  literature.  Not  mere  knowledge, 
but  command  of  one's  powers,  is  the  thing  to  be  sought.  In 
this  case,  as  in  so  many  other  cases,  service  of  others  is  service 
of  self.  And  so  what  is  best  for  the  pupil  is,  after  all,  best 
for  the  college.  "The  true  university  of  these  days,"  says 
Carlyle,  "is  a  collection  of  books."  The  man  who  is  not 
brought  into  intimate  contact  with  books  in  his  youth,  who 
has  not  learned  to  love  them  and  how  to  use  them,  suffers  a 
loss  which  it  is  almost  impossible  to  make  good.  So  great  is 
the  sin  of  those  who  would  divert  the  college  boy  from  the 
library  to  the  laboratory.  That  college  which  is  true  to  its 
mission  and  function,  which  gives  the  best  and  most  inspiring 
instruction  in  the  essentials,  and  which  sets  and  maintains  a 
high  standard,  will  never  lack  for  patrons.  The  appeal  of  such 
an  institution  will,  we  may  be  sure,  win  an  enthusiastic  re- 
sponse.   It  will  not  only  deserve  success,  but  it  will  achieve  it. 


56 


AN  EDUCATIONAL  OPPORTUNITY 

Springfield  Republican,  editorial  article,  February  21,  191 1 

"Few  persons  familiar  with  the  conditions  here  and  abroad," 
writes  President  Lowell  of  Harvard  in  his  annual  report,  "will 
deny  that  respect  for  scholarship  in  American  colleges  is  lamen- 
tably small."  The  causes  for  this  development— and  it  is  pre- 
eminently a  development  of  the  past  thirty  or  forty  years— are 
not  regarded  by  educators  as  at  all  obscure.  When  "going  to 
college"  became  fashionable  in  the  numerous  class  possessed  of 
wealth,  for  the  most  part  newly  acquired,  and  hungry  for  social 
prestige,  the  general  tone  of  college  life  and  the  character  of 
college  ideals  began  to  undergo  a  transformation.  Why  should 
young  men  who  plan  to  succeed  their  fathers  in  the  several 
commercial  callings  in  which  the  family  "pile"  has  been  made 
seek  to  distinguish  themselves  as  scholars?  It  is  impossible 
to  have  a  college  crowded  with  students  whose  primary  pur- 
pose is  to  gain  social  position  and  a  set  of  swell  acquaintances 
for  use  in  later  life,  without,  at  the  same  time,  having  its  at- 
mosphere profoundly  affected  by  the  alien  ideals  they  breathe 
into  it.  Respect  for  scholarship  declines,  of  course.  And  the 
mania  for  "student  activities"  of  the  widest  possible  range 
outside  of  the  class-room  and  the  study  becomes  inevitably 
what  we  see  to-day — a  consuming  passion,  apparently,  of 
college  life,  against  which  college  presidents  and  faculties  strug- 
gle until  they  are  so  dead  tired  that  they  cannot  tell  whether 
they  are  in  the  main  tent  or  the  side-show. 

The  newspaper  published  at  the  University  of  Chicago,  the 
Daily  Maroon,  attracts  attention  just  now  by  declaring  its 
opposition  to  intercollegiate  athletics  as  at  present  conducted. 
It  is  against  athletics,  it  says,  for  the  same  reasons  that  it 
opposes  the  entire  system  of  student  activities  which  "has  made 
the  academic  side  of  college  education  a  mere  incident."  Ath- 
letics presents  the  extreme  illustration  of  the  tendency,  so 
much  deplored,  toward  that  fatal  loss  of  esteem  for  scholarship 

57 


among  the  student  body.  The  richer,  more  largely  attended, 
and  more  celebrated  institutions  have  set  such  a  pace  in  the 
"major  sports"  that  the  expense  has  become  almost  killing  to 
those  smaller  and  weaker  colleges  which  endeavor  to  copy  the 
methods  of  the  leaders.  A  recent  article  in  a  college  publica- 
tion—it was,  of  course,  a  dollar-mark  appeal  to  the  loyal  alumni 
— was  really  pathetic  in  its  description  of  the  harrowing  efforts 
of  the  athletics  department  to  turn  out  ''winning  teams"  on 
nothing  a  year.  Consider  the  question  of  coaches.  Nowadays, 
expensive  coaches  are  indispensable,  and  they  must  be  paid 
higher  salaries  than  full  professors,  if  "our  college  is  to  keep 
in  the  procession."  It  had  become  a  serious  question,  evidently, 
whether  that  institution  should  retire  utterly  from  the  "major 
sports"  because  the  alumni  could  not  be  depended  upon  to  fur- 
nish thousands  of  dollars  a  year  to  pay  itinerant  young  athletes 
exorbitant  fees  for  coaching  the  team  a  few  months.  Of 
course  the  entire  performance  is  getting  to  be  an  imposition 
upon  the  friends  of  those  colleges  which  are  frantically  trying 
to  conform  to  a  standard  of  living  that  is  unmistakably  beyond 
their  means. 

It  is  remarkable  that  some  college  does  not  perceive  in  this 
situation,  to  which  athletics  contributes  merely  its  share,  an 
opportunity  to  distinguish  itself  by  being  as  different  as  possi- 
ble from  the  run  of  colleges.  It  is  by  no  means  improbable 
that  the  time  has  come  when  enthusiastic  support  would  be 
given,  by  people  who  have  retained  somewhat  the  old-fash- 
ioned conception  of  the  higher  education,  to  an  institution  that 
would  close  its  doors,  if  necessary,  rather  than  surrender  to 
that  prevalent  spirit  which  makes  scholarship  the  "mere  inci- 
dent" of  a  college  training.  If  such  an  institution  would  reor- 
ganize "student  activities"  as  determinedly  as  Stein  reorgan- 
ized Prussia,  if  it  would  shoot  a  streak  of  sanity  through  the 
athletics  mania,  if  it  would  enforce  respect  for  scholarship 
or  die  in  the  attempt,  we  should  have  in  America  at  last  a 
college  to  be  proud  of. 

Since  the  special  Committee  of  the  Class  of  '85  made  its 
highly  interesting  report  to  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  College 
regarding  the  wisdom  of  having  that  institution  specialize  in 
liberal  culture  and  stop  trying  to  compete  with  the  universities 
and  technical  schools,  there  has  been  a  gleam  of  liope  in  the 

58 


murky  atmosphere.  Few  things  more  attractive  have  been 
offered  in  the  way  of  an  educational  program  in  recent  years 
to  those  people  who  have  sons  to  educate  rather  than  squander 
money  on.  Amherst,  possibly,  could  combine  the  best  points 
of  several  programs  without  adopting  all  the  points  of 
any  in  particular.  But  by  admitting  students  under  com- 
petitive examination,  as  suggested,  and  raising  materially 
teachers'  salaries,  and  bending  every  energy  to  the  end 
that  the  ideal  of  scholarship  should  actually  dominate  the  in- 
stitution to  its  uttermost  corner,  a  new  departure  in  American 
collegiate  education  might  be  scored  that  would  astonish  the 
land. 


59 


AMHERST'S  OPPORTUNITY 

Boston  Evening  Transcript,  December  31,  1910 

AN   INNOVATION  IN  EDUCATION  THE  PLAN  OF  '85 

A  Striking  Memorial  from  the  Members  of  That  Class  to  the  Trustees 
.  .  .  They  Would  Pay  the  Professors  More  Money,  Provide  Only  a 
Classical  Curriculum,  and  Restrict  the  Students  .  .  .  The  Aim  to  Bring 
Teacher  and  Student  Together  .  .  .  Their  Education  Not  as  Special- 
ists, but  as  Citizens  .  .  .  The  Scheme  in  Detail 

Amherst  College  faces  a  proposal  of  revolutionary  change  in 
its  purpose,  its  standards  and  its  methods.  Much  has  been 
said  during  the  past  ten  years  of  the  alleged  failure  of  the 
American  college  to  give  to  its  students  that  intellectual  and 
moral  fibre,  that  essential  discipline  and  hardening  of  mental 
and  moral  muscle  that  is  fairly  to  be  required  of  the  educated 
man,  and  that  is  a  crying  need  in  the  conduct  of  our  public  life. 
The  foremost  men  of  the  college  and  university  world  have 
frankly  admitted  that  at  least  all  other  institutions  than  their 
own  were  somehow  failing  to  meet  the  reasonable  expectations 
of  society.  And  not  a  few  of  these  leaders  have  set  themselves 
manfully  to  work  in  an  effort  to  change  the  intellectual  and 
moral  current  and  standards  of  their  own  institutions.  For 
the  large  and  complex  university,  moving  with  the  huge  mo- 
mentum of  numbers  and  custom,  any  radical  change  is  a  task 
of  supreme  difficulty.  But  for  the  small  college  already  suffi- 
ciently equipped  with  land,  buildings,  and  nearly  so  with  funds, 
the  setting  up  of  a  new  and  more  adequate  standard  of  general 
education  is  mainly  a  question  of  seeing  the  light  and  then  hav- 
ing the  moral  courage  to  break  out  the  path  forward. 


Just  What  Amherst  Would  Do 

This  is  the  unique  opportunity  of  Amherst.  The  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  and  the  great  benefits  to  higher  education 
in  this  country  that  would  result  from  a  hearty  adoption  of 

60 


the  proposed  plan  are  so  striking  that  they  deserve  the  close 
attention  of  all  who  concern  themselves  with  the  future  of 
American  education  and  American  public  life.  Briefly,  the 
proposed  plan  is  for  Amherst  to  confine  itself  to  the  providing 
of  a  broadly  classical  education,  cutting  off  altogether  its  pro- 
fessional scientific  courses;  that  the  standard  of  scholarship 
required  of  its  students  shall  be  high;  that  the  students  shall 
be  selected  by  competitive  examination  for  admission ;  that  the 
number  of  students  shall  be  so  restricted  as  surely  to  secure 
close  personal  relations  between  students  and  teachers;  and 
finally,  that  the  salaries  of  the  teachers  shall  be  indefinitely 
increased,  so  that  the  College  may  secure  and  retain  the  ser- 
vice, influence,  and  enthusiasm  of  the  best  men— so  much  has 
already  been  inconspicuously  noted  in  the  daily  press ;  but  the 
importance  of  the  new  plan  is  hardly  even  suggested  by  this 
bare  outline. 

In  preface  to  a  more  detailed  account  of  the  new  plan,  some- 
thing should  be  said  of  the  educational  conditions  and  the 
alumni  and  faculty  sentiment  out  of  which  the  new  plan  arose. 

It  is  a  commonplace  that  within  the  past  fifteen  years  the 
center  of  gravity  of  our  American  university  and  college  system 
has  suffered  a  considerable  displacement.  The  rise  of  the  great 
State  universities,  with  their  nominal  tuition  fees,  their  strongly 
"practical"  instruction,  and  the  comparatively  great  funds  de- 
voted to  their  support  has  brought  the  great,  privately  en- 
dowed universities  of  the  East  into  a  new  rivalry.  For  a  time, 
numbers  were  taken  as  a  nearly  sufficient  index  of  progress, 
but  in  the  East  this  soon  gave  way  to  the  providing  of  pro- 
fessional instruction  of  increasingly  higher  grade.  Hence  came 
the  vast  diversity  of  our  present  university  conditions,  offering 
every  conceivable  variety  of  special  training,  and  seeming 
thereby  to  give  up  the  power,  if  not  even  the  disposition,  to 
provide  for  the  young  man  seeking  a  general  education  the 
strenuous  intellectual  discipline,  the  solid  knowledge,  and  the 
poise  and  understanding  that  pertain  to  broad  and  high  schol- 
arship. 

The  Universities  Too  "Practical"  and  Utilitarian 

The  tendencies  in  the  universities  that  have  given  concern 
to  the  wisest  friends  of  higher  education  have  resulted  from 

6i 


a  great  variety  of  causes.  Chief  among  these  has  been  the 
utiHtarian,  not  to  say  the  commercial,  eye  with  which  the  pubHc 
has  been  disposed  to  measure  the  value  of  university  training. 
Rivalry  in  numbers,  due  partly  to  obscure,  and  partly  to  very 
patent,  financial  motives,  has  led  to  the  admission  into  the 
universities  of  many  boys  ill-equipped  in  either  scholastic  train- 
ing or  general  purpose  and  disposition  to  make  good  use  of  the 
opportunities  put  before  them.  Athletic  reputation  has  proved 
an  exceedingly  corrupting  influence,  causing  many  boys  to 
choose  this  place  or  that  for  reasons  entirely  foreign  to  serious 
interest  in  education ;  and  distracting  them  after  their  entrance 
with  diversions  and  false  standards  which  the  best  efforts  of 
faculties  have  done  not  much  to  overcome. 

With  the  "small"  colleges  the  same  influences  have  been 
operative.  The  effects  have  been  rather  more  detrimental  than 
in  the  universities.  In  the  effort  to  increase  numbers,  and  thus 
to  increase  fees,  and  the  gifts  that  may  spring  from  the  enthu- 
siasm of  alumni,  the  small  colleges  have  dangled  the  lure  of 
athletics,  and  have  perforce  tempered  the  wind  of  scholarship 
requirements  to  their  increasing  flock  of  shorn  lambs.  Some  of 
them  have  added  to  their  normal  academic  courses  semi-pro- 
fessional lines  of  training,  thus  entering  into  competition  with 
the  universities  and  technical  schools  in  the  doing  of  tasks  for 
which  they  are  quite  inadequately  equipped.  The  general  result 
is  that  the  small  colleges  furnish  their  students  with  a  training 
that  is,  on  the  whole,  distinctly  mediocre,  attempting  tasks 
utterly  beyond  their  capacity,  and  neglecting  in  large  part  the 
task  that  they  were  best  fitted  to  perform  adequately. 

This  situation  holds  true  of  Amherst.  The  course  of  study 
has  been  improved  during  the  past  year  by  a  rather  rigid 
restriction  of  electives,  but  the  College  is  burdened  with  a 
scientific  course  in  which  it  cannot  offer  a  training  in  any  way 
comparable  to  similar  courses  in  larger  or  special  institutions. 
Athletics  and  "college  life"  are  more  powerful  influences  than 
scholarship.  The  salaries  of  teachers  are  far  too  low  for  pres- 
ent-day requirements,  and  the  Faculty  has  suffered  the  loss  of 
first-class  men,  and  failure  to  secure  others,  for  this  reason. 
In  short,  Amherst,  like  other  colleges,  is  not  doing  conspicu- 
ously well  the  work  for  which  its  position  makes  it  suited.    The 


62 


facts  of  the  situation  have  been  accurately  appraised  both 
within  the  Faculty  and  among  the  alumni. 


Amherst  to  Provide  a  Broader  Training 

The  address  to  the  Trustees,  presented  by  a  Committee  of  the 
Class  of  1885  last  November,  deals  frankly  with  the  needs  of 
higher  education  in  America,  and  with  the  necessity  of  Am- 
herst's casting  its  work  in  new  lines  if  it  is  to  do  effective  and 
valuable  service  under  the  new  conditions  of  education.  The 
Class  of  '85  contains  many  men  prominent  in  educational  work, 
and  its  committee  of  three  which  signed  the  address  has  pro- 
duced a  paper  of  much  sagacity  and  shrewdness.  The  Com- 
mittee consisted  of  E.  Parmalee  Prentice  of  New  York  City, 
chairman ;  Ellsworth  G.  Lancaster,  and  Dr.  W.  G.  Thayer,  head 
of  St.  Mark's  School,  Southboro. 

First  and  foremost,  the  address  urges  that  Amherst  adopt 
as  its  exclusive  task  the  providing  of  a  liberal  or  classical  edu- 
cation aimed  not  at  fitting  the  student  to  secure  quick  pecuniary 
reward,  but  at  preparing  him  for  the  broader  duties  of  public 
life.  It  reviews  the  changing  character  of  the  higher  education 
in  this  country,  and  draws  the  conclusion  that  Amherst  has  no 
high  prospect  in  further  competition  with  institutions  whose 
resources  enormously  exceed  hers.  The  present  scheme  of 
education,  it  asserts,  leaves  no  place  for  Amherst.  "The  high 
school  fits  for  the  university,  and  the  university  for  the  selected 
calling.  Amherst,  on  the  other  hand,  demands  a  preparation 
not  within  the  tendencies  of  the  high  school,  and  gives  a  course 
of  training  which  does  not  fit  for,  but  on  the  other  hand,  post- 
pones, preparation  for  a  calling.'* 

"Amherst  has  stood,"  continues  the  address,  "for  a  liberal  or 
classical  education— the  old-fashioned  course— and  for  many 
years  there  was  in  this  respect  no  difference  between  Amherst 
and  other  institutions  of  higher  education  in  this  country.  The 
value  to  the  public  of  this  training  in  making  statesmen  and 
leaders  of  public  thought  is  even  now  unquestioned.  It  is  a 
training  in  civics,  in  the  history  of  government,  in  the  develop- 
ment and  significance  of  institutions,  in  the  meaning  of  civili- 

63 


zation— in  brief,  a  training  for  public  leadership,  not  a  per- 
sonal equipment  for  a  trade."  The  address  quotes  President 
Woodrow  Wilson: 

"The  American  college,"  says  Dr.  Wilson,  "has  played  a 
unique  part  in  American  life.  ...  It  formed  men  who 
brought  to  their  tasks  an  incomparable  morale,  a  capacity 
that  seemed  more  than  individual,  a  power  touched  with 
large  ideals.  The  liberal  training  which  it  sought  to  impart 
took  no  thought  of  any  particular  profession  or  business, 
but  was  meant  to  reflect  in  its  few  and  simple  disciplines 
the  image  of  life  and  thought.  Men  were  bred  by  it  to  no 
skill  or  craft  or  calling;  the  discipline  to  which  they  were 
subjected  had  a  more  general  object.  It  was  meant  to  pre- 
pare them  for  the  whole  of  life  rather  than  some  particular 
part  of  it.  The  ideals  which  lay  at  its  heart  were  the  gen- 
eral ideals  of  conduct,  of  right  living  and  right  thinking, 
which  made  them  aware  of  a  world  moralized  by  prin- 
ciple, steadied  and  cleared  of  many  an  evil  thing  by  true 
and  catholic  reflection  and  just  feeling,  a  world  not  of 
interests  but  of  ideas.  Such  impressions,  such  challenges 
to  a  man's  spirit,  such  intimations  of  privilege  and  duty, 
are  not  to  be  found  in  the  work  of  professional  and  tech- 
nical schools.    They  cannot  be." 

The  proposition  for  which  Amherst  stands,  argues  the  ad- 
dress, is  that  preparation  for  some  particular  part  of  life  does 
not  make  better  citizens  than,  in  President  Wilson's  phrase, 
preparation  for  the  whole  of  it.  This  is  the  training  which 
Amherst  has  given,  and  if  now  the  College  were  publicly  and 
definitely  to  stand  forward  as  an  exponent  of  classical  learning 
in  such  modified  course  as  modern  scholarship  may  approve, 
the  Committee  asserts  its  belief  that,  with  its  history,  its  de- 
served reputation,  and  its  present  position,  Amherst  can  take 
the  place  of  leadership  in  this  work.  "This  once  done,  the 
College  will  no  longer  appeal  for  support  solely  to  its  friends, 
but  would  have  reason  to  expect  the  efficient  support  of  all 
friends  of  classical  education— that  is,  of  the  most  conservative, 
thoughtful,  and  scholarly  persons." 

,    64 


The  Ill-Paid  Amherst  Faculty 

Turning  next  to  the  compensation  of  the  Faculty,  the  address 
points  out  clearly  the  damage  to  Amherst  and  to  the  cause  of 
the  higher  education  that  comes  from  the  hardships  and  limita- 
tions due  to  insufficient  salaries;  and  the  necessity  of  largely 
increased  pay. 

Fourteen  members  of  the  Faculty  receive  $3000,  four  receive 
$2500,  one  receives  $2200  ($600  of  this  being  payment  for 
special  work  this  year),  eleven  receive  $2000,  four  receive 
$1600,  two  receive  $1400,  one  receives  $1300,  two  receive 
$1200.  The  dean  (one  of  the  fourteen  who  receive  $3000) 
receives  also  $1000  additional  for  his  services  in  administra- 
tion. Assistants  are  not  included  in  the  list  given  above,  since 
these  men  are  not  permanent  members  of  the  Faculty. 

The  following  eloquent  statistics  regarding  the  income,  living 
expenses  and  annual  deficit  (so  far  as  salary  is  concerned)  of 
the  classes  of  the  Faculty  whose  salaries  are  noted  above  were 
compiled  from  reports  made  in  writing  by  thirty-nine  indi- 
vidual teachers  upon  uniform  blanks.  Careful  study  of  the 
remarks  accompanying  these  reports  shows  that  in  many  cases 
the  expenditure  is  kept  down  to  the  point  indicated  only  by 
economy  verging  upon  hardship.  Here  are  the  figures,  and 
they  will  well  repay  a  close  examination : 

Books,  Excess  of 

Colo.-.  T?».,f  Cost  of      education  of        t„»„i  ,^.,»„„  Average 

Salary  Rent  ^^.^^  ^^^^^^^^  lotal         ^^o^gf^^    last  coltLn 

$3000    $596    $2633    $807    $4036    $1036    $620 

2500  533  2000  416  2949  449 

2200  500  1 100  300  1900  -300 

2000  355  1474  476  2305  305 

1600  337  1323  638  2298  698 

1400  333  1335  405  2073  673 

1300  175  500  350  1025  -275 

1200  290  1025  362  1677  477 

In  commenting  on  the  facts  disclosed  by  this  table,  the 
address  goes  into  a  somewhat  detailed  and  highly  significant 
explanation  of  the  economic  and  social  problem  that  confronts 
the  professor  dependent  on  such  salaries  as  those  noted. 

65 


The  higher  salaries,  it  notes,  are  in  general  paid  to  men  of 
long  service,  who  in  the  natural  course  of  affairs  are  compelled 
to  meet  higher  expenditures.  Professors  are  more  and  more, 
as  time  passes,  called  upon  to  perform  representative  duties  for 
the  College ;  their  children  are  growing  and  must  be  educated, 
clothed,  and  fed;  standards  of  living  are  entailed  which  are 
not  necessary  in  the  earlier  period  of  the  teacher's  career. 
Higher  salaries  correspond  not  to  a  greater  temptation  to,  but 
a  greater  need  for,  the  increased  expenditure  which  appears  in 
the  table.  With  this  in  mind,  it  is  significant  that  at  no  period 
during  a  teacher's  connection  with  the  College  is  his  salary 
sufficient  for  his  support. 

If  the  $300  surplus  noted  against  the  $2200  salary  be  con- 
sidered in  the  light  of  the  fact  that  $600  of  this  salary  is  extra 
pay  for  special  work  during  this  year,  the  surplus  should  enter 
into  the  final  average  as  a  deficit  of  $300.  With  this  change,  it 
appears  that  the  average  outlay  of  the  Amherst  teacher  exceeds 
his  salary  by  $635.  Almost  without  exception,  the  members 
of  the  Amherst  Faculty  are  dependent  for  a  fair  degree  of 
comfort  in  living  upon  income  from  sources  other  than  their 
salaries. 

Cost  of  Living  jo  %  Higher  in  Last  Ten  Years 

During  the  last  ten  years  the  increase  in  the  cost  of  living,  as 
shown  by  averages  of  the  estimates  given  by  members  of  the 
Faculty,  amounts  to  almost  exactly  thirty  per  cent.  But  this 
appears  to  be  under  the  real  truth.  An  independent  investiga- 
tion of  the  matter  has  been  based  upon  figures  obtained  from 
the  books  of  Amherst  tradesmen.  Present-day  prices  were 
compared  with  the  prices  prevailing  in  the  later  nineties  on  the 
following  items :  Groceries,  meats,  clothing,  coal,  services  (in- 
cluding those  of  domestics,  mechanics,  day  laborers,  etc.).  The 
results  of  this  investigation  seem  to  show  a  distinctly  greater 
increase  than  that  indicated  by  the  teachers'  reports. 

The  address  presents,  as  of  deep  significance,  the  following 
comments  from  the  member  of  the  Amherst  Faculty  who  made 
this  independent  investigation  into  prices  and  the  conditions  of 
living  under  the  present  salary  scale.    Fie  says : 

"When  I  have  indicated  the  increase  in  the  cost  of  living 
based  on  increase  in  prices  of  commodities  and  services, 

66 


the  story  is  by  no  means  completely  told.  The  standard  of 
life  which  a  college  professor  must  now  maintain  entails 
an  increase  in  expenditure,  as  compared  with  fifteen  years 
ago,  that  statistics  of  prices  do  not  show.  It  costs  him 
more  to  maintain  his  former  standard.  But  the  change 
of  standard  enforced  upon  him  by  social  changes  and  the 
sentiments  of  the  college  community  forces  an  additional 
expenditure.  Besides  this,  the  progress  of  knowledge  calls 
for  an  increase  in  facilities  in  the  way  of  books,  travel, 
and  general  equipment  in  order  that  he  may  keep  abreast 
or  ahead  in  the  running  and  meet  the  demands  of  service 
to  his  institution.  Such  changes  of  standard  in  living  and 
equipment  cannot  be  reduced  to  statistics,  but  they  are 
known  to  all  college  men. 

"So  much  on  the  increased  cost  of  living.  Let  me  indi- 
cate a  method  by  which  to  judge  of  the  adequacy  of  a  col- 
lege professor's  income.  Some  investigation  has  led  me  to 
the  conclusion  that  at  Amherst  a  college  professor  spends 
his  income  approximately  as  follows,  with  a  family  of 
four:  Rent,  17%;  fuel,  6%;  lighting,  2%;  food,  35%; 
clothing,  20%;  sundries,  20%.  Assuming  that  he  has  a 
salary  of  $3000,  that  would  mean  $600  for  sundries.  But 
what  does  sundries  cover?  Such  items  as  the  following: 
Laundry,  house-cleaning,  kitchen  supplies,  repairs  such  as 
replacement  of  furniture,  rugs,  bed-clothing,  etc. ;  doctors' 
bills,  dentistry,  life  insurance,  subscriptions  that  he  is 
called  upon  to  make  and  wants  to  make,  support  of  ath- 
letics and  Y.  M.  C.  A.  benevolence,  presents,  books,  travel, 
vacations,  and  the  education  of  his  children. 

"There  are  college  professors  who  for  years  buy  no 
books  because  they  cannot  afford  it;  who  for  the  same 
reason  do  not  go  to  the  theater,  do  not  subscribe  $5  to  the 
musical  program,  never  ride  in  a  parlor  car,  never  have 
been  to  the  sea-shore  or  to  the  mountains,  and  never  could 
afford  to  take  a  sabbatical  year  to  freshen  up  their  life  and 
their  work."  (During  the  sabbatical  year  at  Amherst, 
only  half-salary  is  paid.) 

The  meaning  of  these  facts  could  hardly  be  evaded  even  by 
one  who  wished  to  evade  their  unhappy  significance. 

67 


In  its  comment  on  the  necessity  for  limiting  the  number  of 
students,  the  address  touches  pointedly  on  the  devices  and 
makeshifts  that  have  been  adopted  in  various  universities  to 
infuse  individuality  into  the  instruction,  and  a  spirit  of  respect 
for  scholarship  into  the  student  public.  These  devices  it  con- 
siders imperfect  remedies  for  overcrowding. 

"The  college  cannot  devote  its  whole  strength  and  all 
its  energies  to  the  elevation  of  standards  and  improvement 
in  the  quality  of  its  work,  while  at  the  same  time  it  en- 
deavors to  receive  increasing  numbers.  At  this  point 
choice  is  inevitable,  and  it  is  in  the  neglect  to  meet  this 
demand  of  existing  and  imperative  conditions  by  a  delib- 
erate decision  that  most  of  the  small  colleges  have  made 
their  mistake.  This  is  an  error  which  Amherst  can  avoid. 
We  are  seekers  for  scholarship,  not  for  numbers,  and  our 
position  can  be  made  clear  and  publicly  distinctive  only 
by  limitation  upon  the  number  of  our  students. 

"Such  a  limitation  being  established,  it  is  evident  that 
the  applicants  for  admission  to  the  College  must  undergo 
some  selective  process— preferably,  the  Committee  urge, 
by  competitive  examination.  The  honor  of  success  in  such 
a  competition,  the  consciousness  of  having  achieved  indi- 
vidual recognition,  in  the  field  of  scholarship,  the  esprit  de 
corps  which  must  result,  would  create  at  Amherst  a  con- 
dition such  as  now  exists  in  no  American  college." 

The  Lack  of  Leadership 

With  this  wise  and  inspiring  plan  before  the  Amherst  public, 
the  situation  is  in  some  respects  extraordinary.  The  address 
has  been  referred  to  joint  consideration  by  the  instruction  com- 
mittees of  the  Trustees  and  the  Faculty.  Among  the  Trustees, 
the  Faculty,  and  the  alumni,  and  even  among  the  students,  the 
plan  has  been  received  with  a  good  deal  of  favor,  though  the 
idea  of  competitive  examinations  for  admission  seems  to  a  few 
rather  drastic.  Amherst  now  has  about  five  hundred  students. 
It  has  abundant  equipment,  in  land  and  buildings.  The  new 
plan  would  somewhat  reduce  the  number  of  students,  but  be- 
tween the  aid  that  may  be  relied  on  from  graduates  and  from  a 
new  fund  already  nearly  completed,-  there  is  no  financial  ob- 

68 


stacle  to  the  change,  even  including  a  marked  increase  in  the 
salaries  of  the  Faculty.  Amherst  seems  to  have  within  reach  the 
easy  accomplishment  of  an  ideal  whose  pursuit  is  a  heavy  tax 
on  President  Lowell,  and  which  burdens  the  head  of  more  than 
one  other  university.  In  the  face  of  all  this  opportunity  there 
is  no  leadership — there  is  a  lack  of  initiative  that  must  impress 
at  least  some  observers  as  little  less  than  astonishing.  It  may 
well  seem  the  duty  of  all  who  know,  either  by  possession  or  by 
deprivation,  the  abiding,  solid  value  of  a  classical  education 
held  to  high  standards  to  bestir  themselves  in  support  of  the 
new  Amherst. 

Benjamin  Baker. 


69 


THE  SMALL  COLLEGE 

IT  HAS  A  WELL-DEFINED  AND  IMPORTANT  PLACE  IN  EDUCATION 

San  Francisco  Chronicle,  editorial  article,  April  9,  191 1 

Some  weeks  ago  there  was  a  despatch  from  New  York  printed 
in  the  Chronicle  and  such  other  journals  as  consider  educational 
news  worth  printing,  to  the  effect  that  Amherst  College,  in 
Massachusetts,  proposed  to  discontinue  instruction  in  science 
and  become  an  old-fashioned  classical  college. 

The  despatch  was  incorrect,  as  a  letter  from  an  alumnus 
informs  us,  the  fact  being  that  an  influential  committee  of  the 
alumni  has  recommended  that  the  College  reduce  its  present 
amount  of  instruction  in  science,  but  that  it  shall  cease  to 
confer  the  B.S.  degree  which,  so  far  as  it  indicates  anything, 
implies  that  the  holder  has  a  scientific  equipment  which  fits 
him  to  undertake  some  branch  of  scientific  service. 

Amherst  College  is  an  institution  of  some  antiquity  for  this 
country,  and,  like  other  New  England  colleges,  was  founded 
at  a  time  when  the  chief  duty  of  an  American  college  was  to 
prepare  earnest  and  devout  young  men  for  the  Christian  min- 
istry. If  some  turned  out  to  be  doctors  or  lawyers,  so  much 
the  worse  for  them.  In  those  days  America  had  no  leisure 
class,  and  collegiate  training,  except  with  a  view  to  entering  one 
of  the  three  recognized  "learned  professions,"  was  not  taken 
into  consideration. 

Amherst  is  typical  of  a  considerable  number  of  American 
colleges  with  moderate  but  gradually  increasing  endowment' 
and  a  considerable  body  of  alumni,  but  which  are  not  so  situ- 
ated as  to  be  able  to  grow  great  and  accumulate  the  enormous 
endowments  required  for  the  work  of  a  large  modern  univer- 
sity. 

All  these  colleges— at  least  the  older  of  them— have  a  history 
behind  them  precious  to  the  memory  of  those  who  have  helped 
make  it,  whether  as  instructors  or  students.    Most  of  them,  like 

70 


Amherst,  are  situated  in  pleasant  country  villages,  with  the 
best  of  moral  environment,  of  which  they  are  the  chief  attrac- 
tion, and  around  which  most  of  the  village  activities  revolve. 
The  professors,  with  modest  stipends,  living  the  simple  life, 
although  usually  unknown  very  far  in  the  outer  world,  are  the 
most  highly  respected  citizens  of  the  vicinity,  and  the  president 
is  a  truly  great  man.  The  students,  ranking  in  the  order  of 
their  classes,  have  the  pick  of  the  company  of  the  village  girls. 
Writing  in  the  memory  of  years  spent  at  such  a  college,  the 
life  as  one  remembers  it  is  idyllic.  It  recalls  the  traditions  of 
the  medieval  cloister,  free  from  the  distractions  and  conten- 
tions of  the  outer  world,  with  learning,  not  athletics,  the  com- 
munity ideal— the  simple  thoughts,  the  simple  pleasures,  the 
simple  life. 

The  question  is  what  to  do  with  these  colleges.  For  equip- 
ping for  the  very  strenuous  life  they  cannot  compete  with  the 
great  universities,  and  ought  not  to  try.  There  are  great  uni- 
versities enough,  and  all  are  enlarging  their  activities  and  need 
strengthening,  not  more  competition.  The  degrees  of  the  small 
colleges  have  not  the  commercial  value  of  those  of  universities, 
nor  are  the  college  acquaintanceships  so  helpful  in  after  life  as 
those  of  the  rich  men's  sons  whom  one  comes  to  know,  espe- 
cially if  one  happens  to  be  a  football  hero. 

What  is  to  be  done  with  the  small  colleges  depends  on  our 
conception  of  what  they  can  do,  and  the  Alumni  Committee 
of  Amherst  College  seems  to  have  solved  the  problem  for  all. 
It  is  proposed  that  they  become  primarily  builders  of  charac- 
ter based  on  broad  culture,  acquired  under  the  inspiration  of 
personal  contact  with  earnest  men  in  favorable  environments. 
This  the  small  colleges  can  do  and  the  universities  cannot  do 
so  well,  for  the  reason  that,  with  all  their  money,  they  are  none 
of  them  able  to  bring  men  of  power,  character,  culture,  and 
maturity  into  constant  personal  contact  with  the  students.  The 
junior  instructors  are  necessarily  young  men  whose  small  salar- 
ies compel  them  to  be  constantly  alert  for  better  positions,  and 
as  a  class  they  do  not  stay  long  enough  in  one  place  to  absorb 
its  atmosphere  or  impress  themselves  upon  the  student  body. 
If  they  remain  and  advance,  their  spare  time  is  absorbed  in 
research  or  in  the  larger  activities  of  the  world  about  them. 
And  the  students  themselves  are  so  distracted  by  the  various 

71 


student  body  activities,  few  of  them  character-building  and 
some  demorahzing,  that  normal  development  seems  almost 
impossible.  Of  course,  those  who  attend  the  universities  with 
earnest  purpose  progress  there  as  they  would  anywhere,  and 
have  the  advantage  of  a  range  and  equipment  wholly  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  small  college. 

Certainly  there  is  a  demand — or  at  least  a  necessity — for  such 
products  of  small  colleges  as  these  recommendations  of  the 
Amherst  alumni  contemplate.  Undertaking  nothing  which  they 
are  not  equipped  to  do  thoroughly,  the  output  of  such  institu- 
tions should  be  the  choice  spirits  of  their  generation — those 
who  both  think  and  feel,  but  whose  intellectual  and  emotional 
natures  have  developed  under  wholesome  discipline  and  lofty 
inspiration. 

The  one  danger  to  which  such  institutions  will  be  exposed 
is  that  as  they  become  known  they  will  begin  to  receive  huge 
endowments  and  become  fashionable. 


72 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  SMALLER  COLLEGES 

New  York  Sun,  editorial  article,  February  19,  191 1 

An  "Address  to  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  College  by  the  Class 
of  1885"  represents  a  careful  investigation  into  the  declining 
popularity  of  the  liberal  classical  courses  in  colleges  and  uni- 
versities and  the  increasing  popularity  of  the  courses  that  lead 
to  degrees  in  science.  The  report  is  signed  by  E.  Parmalee 
Prentice,  a  lawyer  of  New  York ;  President  Ellsworth  G.  Lan- 
caster of  Olivet  College,  and  William  G.  Thayer,  head  master 
of  St.  Mark's  School  at  Southboro,  Massachusetts,  represent- 
ing the  class.  It  recommends  that  the  College  devote  "all  its 
means  to  the  indefinite  increase  of  teachers'  salaries";  that 
the  number  of  students  received  be  limited  to  competitive  ex- 
amination; and  of  more  general  interest  to  the  college  world 
is  the  request  that  Amherst  should  abolish  its  present  course 
leading  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  and  devote  all  its 
resources  to  a  modified  classical  course,  with  a  Bachelor  of 
Arts  degree  for  those  who  qualify.  This  is  radical  conser- 
vatism. Twenty-five  years  ago  there  was  no  occasion  for  such 
a  recommendation. 

Although  Amherst  and  Williams  have  each  increased  in  size 
nearly  forty  per  cent,  in  the  last  twenty  years,  they  cannot  hope 
to  compete  in  their  technical  courses  with  the  large  universities, 
with  their  heavily  endowed  schools  of  science.  Even  the 
academic  departments  of  these  same  universities  in  the  East 
and  in  the  very  important  Western  State  institutions  have  not 
kept  pace  with  the  growth  of  other  departments.  An  increasing 
number  of  students  each  year  pass  from  the  high  schools  into  the 
universities  for  a  technical  training  to  prepare  them  for  some 
professional  or  commercial  career.  The  high  school  fits  for  the 
university,  and  the  university  fits  for  the  selected  calling.  Such 
a  college  as  Amherst  gives  a  course  of  training  that  does  not 
fit  for,  but  postpones,  the  preparation  for  a  calling.  Science 
is  taught  as  a  part  of  a  liberal  education  only  far  enough  to 

7Z 


enable  the  graduates  to  enter  the  best  professional  schools. 
The  committee  whose  report  we  are  considering  believes  that 
the  university  and  the  college  should  each  have  its  distinctive 
field,  and  that  it  is  wasteful  of  the  college  to  expend  any 
energy  in  an  attempt  to  compete  with  the  university  in  techni- 
cal training.  They  illustrate  this  with  the  statement  that  one- 
quarter  of  the  students  at  Amherst  to-day  are  studying  for  a 
Bachelor  of  Science  degree.  Fewer  men  each  year  are  taking 
Greek,  not  only  in  the  fitting  schools  but  in  the  colleges.  In 
fact,  President  Harris  of  Amherst  has  said  sadly  that  Greek 
is  now  almost  a  lost  cause. 

With  due  emphasis  on  the  fact  that  the  world  needs  engineers 
and  chemists  and  technically  trained  men,  this  address  to  the 
Trustees  of  Amherst  upholds  the  proposition  that  for  states- 
men, leaders  of  public  thought,  for  literature,  and  indeed  for 
all  work  that  demands  culture  and  breadth  of  view,  nothing 
can  take  the  place  of  a  liberal  classical  education.  There  are 
probably  many  who  will  agree  with  this  report  in  the  assertion 
that  the  duty  of  institutions  of  higher  education  is  not  wholly 
performed  when  the  youth  of  this  country  are  passed  from 
high  schools  to  universities  to  be  "vocationalized,"  but  that 
there  is  a  most  important  work  to  be  performed  by  an  institu- 
tion that  stands  aside  from  this  straight  line  to  pecuniary  re- 
ward as  an  exponent  of  classical  learning  in  such  modified 
courses  as  modern  scholarship  may  approve. 


AMHERST  A  CLASSICAL  COLLEGE 

New  York  World,  February  12,  1911 

Amherst's  reported  intention  of  running  a  real  college,  of 
sticking  to  classical  culture,  as  the  plan  is  understood,  and 
providing  students  with  an  academic  education  mainly,  may 
not  suit  "progressive"  educators.  But  the  plan  will  be  indorsed 
by  many  old  alumni  of  other  colleges  as  a  departure  from  the 
prevailing  cult  of  the  practical  in  college  education.  Amherst 
will  give  a  further  basis  of  justification  to  Webster's  well- 
known  eulogy  of  "the  small  college"  by  following  the  old  clas- 
sical curriculum  and  leaving  the  isms  and  ologies  to  the  larger 
institutions. 

74 


THE  AMHERST  IDEA 

Silvae,  published  by  the  Classical  Club,  Normal  College,  New  York  City, 
editorial  article,  February,  1911 

The  Class  of  '85,  Amherst  College,  has  presented  an  "Address 
to  the  Trustees"  urging  the  adoption  of  a  new  policy,  of  which 
the  salient  points  are  the  following:  (i)  Limitation  of  the 
number  of  students;  (2)  Admission  by  competitive  examina- 
tion; (3)  The  use  of  "all  its  means"  for  the  indefinite  increase 
of  teachers'  salaries;  (4)  Abolition  of  the  B.S.  degree;  (5) 
The  adoption  of  a  single  course  of  study,  described  as  "a  modi- 
fied classical  course."  This  policy  is  now  under  discussion  by 
the  Faculty  and  the  Trustees ;  on  their  decision  rests  the  most 
important  question,  it  is  safe  to  say,  that  now  confronts  not 
only  Amherst,  but  also  a  large  number  of  American  colleges 
which  in  situation,  size,  and  spirit  have,  like  Amherst,  re- 
mained truer  to  the  historic  type  than  has  been  possible  for  our 
overgrown  universities. 

Silvae  is  primarily  interested,  of  course,  in  the  part  assigned 
to  the  classics  in  this  proposed  course  of  study.  The  address 
does  not  urge  (as  has  been  mistakenly  reported)  that  the 
sciences  should  be  omitted  from  the  curriculum.  And  no  sensi- 
ble classicist  would  approve  such  a  scheme.  But  it  does  pre- 
sent cogent  reasons  why  Amherst  may  well  devote  itself  to  a 
type  of  education  in  which  well-tested,  well-organized,  well- 
taught  classical  studies  are  to  be  neither  ignored  nor  minimized. 
There  are  many  places  where  technical  subjects  can  be  prof- 
itably studied,  where  professions  can  be  anticipated,  and  "voca- 
tions" assured.  There  is,  surely,  room  and  need  for  at  least 
one  institution  where  the  old-fashioned  humanities  can  exist 
on  some  other  terms  than  the  usual  contemptuous  tolerance. 

This  address  is  only  one  among  many  signs  that  American 
educators  are  realizing  how  much  too  far  the  reaction  against 
the  study  of  Greek  and  Latin  has  gone.     Even  Mr.  Charles 

75 


Francis  Adams,  the  writer  of  the  once- famous  pamphlet  on 
Greek  as  a  "College  Fetich,"  is  now  reported  to  maintain  that 
at  least  one  classical  language  ought  to  be  included  in  every 
student's  college  course.  If  it  were  any  longer  the  fashion  to 
quote  Latin,  it  might  be  remarked,  with  Ergasilus  in  *'The 
Captives" : 

'Tum  denique  homines  nostra  intellegimus  bona 
Quom  quae  in  potestate  habuimus  ea  amisimus." 

Yet  even  if  the  classics  were  to  be  utterly  banished  from  the 
curriculum,  the  Amherst  proposal  would  be  eminently  worth 
trying.  A  group  of  competent,  well-paid  teachers,  a  uniform, 
well-devised  curriculum,  a  manageable  number  of  adequately 
prepared  students — such  a  combination  should  produce  unique 
results,  far-reaching  in  their  influence  on  national  culture.  It 
sounds  like  a  new  chapter  in  the  "Day-Dreams  of  a  School- 
master."   Is  Amherst  daring  enough  to  make  it  a  reality? 


76 


The  Classical  Weekly,  editorial  article,  February  i8,  igii 

Other  matters  have  crowded  out,  for  a  time,  the  consideration 
of  a  most  interesting  and  important  document  in  regard  to  the 
future  of  our  small  colleges.  I  refer  to  an  address  submitted 
to  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  College  by  the  Class  of  1885. 

With  the  enormous  additions  in  recent  years  to  the  re- 
sources of  our  great  universities,  whether  private,  as  are  most 
of  the  Eastern  institutions,  or  public,  like  the  Western  institu- 
tions, the  question  of  the  future  of  the  small  college  has  become 
more  and  more  a  burning  one.  Scientific  instruction,  as  at 
present  carried  on,  requires  such  an  expensive  plant  that  only 
in  the  great  institutions  can  it  be  adequately  provided  for. 
Our  smaller  colleges  have  neither  the  equipment  nor  the  in- 
structors necessary  for  those  who  are  looking  forward  to  a 
life-work  in  what  may  be  called  scientific  fields.  The  alumni 
of  Amherst  College,  frankly  recognizing  this  situation,  have 
made  the  rather  revolutionary  suggestion  that  young  men 
seeking  a  scientific  training  should  not  go  to  Amherst  at  all, 
but  should  try  such  institutions  as  the  Massachusetts  Institute 
of  Technology.  What,  then,  is  left  for  the  small  college?  Has 
it  any  function  at  all?  This  address  asserts  positively  that  it 
has,  and  proceeds  to  define  it  as  in  general  the  training  of  men 
for  the  larger  life  of  the  community,  **a  training  which  should 
be  undergone  for  the  sake  of  learning  and  for  the  benefit  of 
the  State."  This  training  is,  in  brief,  the  old  classical  training 
modified  to  meet  the  modern  conditions  of  human  interests. 
With  the  further  suggestions  in  the  report  as  to  the  necessity 
of  raising  salaries  of  professors  so  that  they  can  be  adequate 
teachers,  I  have  nothing  to  do. 

It  seems  to  be  high  time  to  distinguish  clearly  what  the 
advocates  of  vocational  training  really  have  in  view.  They 
put  forward  a  very  specious  plea  that  a  child's  training  should 
fit  him  for  what  he  is  going  to  do  in  life.  They  ignore  entirely 
the  other  side.     They  have  no  concern  with  what  a  man  is 

77 


going  to  he  in  life.  The  conditions  of  life  have  been  profoundly 
modified  by  scientific  discoveries  made  by  men,  many  of  whom 
had  no  personal  influence  at  all,  but  the  majority  of  those  who 
make  their  living  by  engineering  or  the  other  so-called  voca- 
tional pursuits  are  not  going  to  modify  human  conditions  in  this 
fashion.  The  question  with  them  is  not  so  much  what  they 
are  going  to  do  as  what  they  are  going  to  be,  what  influence 
they  are  going  to  exert  by  their  own  personality  upon  their 
neighbors.  It  is  a  significant  as  well  as  unfortunate  fact  that 
the  life  of  our  nation  has  been  and  is  being  directed  almost 
entirely  by  men  who  have  no  experience  in  statesmanship. 
They  do  not  get  this  experience,  nor  even  the  preliminary 
breadth  of  view,  from  vocational  training.  They  can  only  get 
it  from  a  study  of  the  world  movements  and  world  influences 
that  have  been  moulding  the  life  and  the  thinking  of  man  for 
centuries  upon  centuries.  That  is  a  modern  classical  education. 
Our  present  view  of  the  classical  education  does  not  mean  one 
limited  to  the  old  curriculum  of  Latin,  Greek,  and  mathematics, 
but  the  ancient  literatures  must  have  an  important  place  in  any 
such  training.  The  proper  place  for  such  an  education  is  in  the 
small  college  and  not  in  the  large  university ;  in  the  small  college 
men  have  time  to  grow  instead  of  hustle,  the  object  in  view 
is  primarily  life  and  not  money.  Amherst  could  not  do  better 
than  follow  the  suggestions  of  this  address,  and  many  other 
smaller  colleges  would  do  well  to  give  them  serious  attention. 

Gonzalez  Lodge. 


78 


A  NEW  PLAN  FOR  AMHERST 

Harper' s  Weekly,  editorial  article,  May  20,  1911 

In  the  June  number  of  Harper's  Magazine,  Mr.  E.  Parmalee 
Prentice,  of  New  York,  describes  the  proposal,  now  under  con- 
sideration and  Hkely,  we  understand,  to  be  adopted,  to  change 
the  poHcy  of  Amherst  College,  abandon  all  effort  and  intention 
to  compete  in  numbers  with  other  colleges,  and  take  what 
measures  are  possible  to  attract  a  limited  number  of  able  and 
zealous  students,  and  give  them  four  years  of  the  best  procur- 
able general  preparation  for  work  in  life.  The  chief  changes 
suggested  are  to  raise  the  standard  of  admission  and  of  study 
after  admission,  limit  the  number  of  students,  and  devote  the 
resources  of  the  institution,  not  to  buildings,  grounds,  and  ex- 
pansion, but  "to  the  indefinite  increase  of  teachers'  salaries." 

A  fair  trial  of  this  experiment  would  be  interesting  to  every 
friend  and  student  of  education  in  the  country.  If  Amherst 
can  operate  a  system  of  education  that  will  attract  abler  young 
men,  and  turn  out  abler  and  more  thorough  scholars  than  the 
other  colleges,  she  will  confer  a  great  benefit  on  the  country, 
not  only  by  providing  useful  men,  but  by  demonstrating  im- 
proved processes  of  training.  The  amount  of  time  and  money 
that  is  spent  in  the  great  popular  universities  of  the  East  in 
giving  lazy  boys  the  mere  rudiments  of  mental  training  is  a 
sorrow  to  lamenting  educators.  It  will  go  on,  no  doubt,  with 
all  its  vast  provision  for  the  social  and  athletic  side  of  college 
life,  and  immense  diversion  to  them  of  time  and  attention, 
until  it  is  demonstrated  somewhere  that  for  really  ambitious 
youths  there  is  something  better  offered  which  it  will  pay  them 
to  embrace.  Inspiring  teachers  are  nine  tenths  of  the  battle  of 
education.  How  interesting  is  this  idea  of  paying  out  money, 
not  for  advertisement,  scholarships,  and  the  provision  and 
operation  of  huge  plants  for  the  accommodation  of  boys  who 
want  to  play,  but  for  "the  indefinite  increase  of  salaries"  of 

79 


men  fit  to  inspire  and  instruct  boys  who  want  to  work !  Let  us 
hope  Amherst  will  try  it.  It  will  take  a  good  while— twenty 
years,  say— to  give  it  a  fair  test.  There  must  be  time  to  see 
what  sort  of  a  product  the  renovated  Amherst  can  turn  out,  and 
how  it  compares  in  human  efficiency  with  the  men  who  emerge 
from  the  ruck  of  the  great  universities.  For,  after  all,  the 
crowd  of  a  great  university  is  a  school  in  itself,  out  of  which 
some  able  men  get  valuable  lessons. 


See  also  the  article  on  The  Amherst  Idea,  in  Harper's  Maga- 
zine for  June,  191 1,  under  the  title,  "A  New  Opportunity  for 
A  Small  College." 


80 


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Makers 

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